Orvel
Orvel was last recorded in 1972, when 8 babies were given it; 1,157 Americans have been recorded with it between 1888 and 1972 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Orvel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Orvel?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #3,872, in 1972; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
56 babies in 1919, the peak
Orvel peaked in 1919, when 56 boys were given it, #894 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 8 | #3,872 | 4.9 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,289 | 2.7 |
| 1963 | 10 | #2,805 | 4.9 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,541 | 3.4 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,493 | 2.4 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,564 | 3.3 |
| 1958 | 9 | #2,972 | 4.2 |
| 1957 | 7 | #3,471 | 3.2 |
| 1956 | 8 | #3,129 | 3.8 |
| 1955 | 11 | #2,516 | 5.3 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1954 | 6 | #3,718 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,693 | 3.0 |
| 1952 | 10 | #2,629 | 5.1 |
| 1951 | 11 | #2,463 | 5.8 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,719 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 8 | #2,956 | 4.5 |
| 1948 | 11 | #2,411 | 6.3 |
| 1947 | 17 | #1,894 | 9.3 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,502 | 6.2 |
| 1945 | 8 | #2,703 | 5.9 |
| 1944 | 17 | #1,720 | 12.5 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,622 | 14.0 |
| 1942 | 24 | #1,456 | 17.4 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,174 | 9.8 |
| 1940 | 16 | #1,780 | 13.8 |
| 1939 | 18 | #1,617 | 16.3 |
| 1938 | 14 | #1,954 | 12.6 |
| 1937 | 25 | #1,366 | 23.4 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,709 | 16.4 |
| 1935 | 35 | #1,119 | 33.6 |
| 1934 | 26 | #1,350 | 25.2 |
| 1933 | 29 | #1,246 | 29.2 |
| 1932 | 14 | #2,068 | 13.4 |
| 1931 | 21 | #1,579 | 20.2 |
| 1930 | 29 | #1,362 | 26.4 |
| 1929 | 34 | #1,210 | 31.6 |
| 1928 | 27 | #1,441 | 24.4 |
| 1927 | 35 | #1,242 | 31.1 |
| 1926 | 24 | #1,555 | 21.6 |
| 1925 | 31 | #1,325 | 27.8 |
| 1924 | 45 | #1,066 | 39.7 |
| 1923 | 39 | #1,152 | 35.6 |
| 1922 | 39 | #1,155 | 35.8 |
| 1921 | 40 | #1,136 | 36.3 |
| 1920 | 32 | #1,294 | 30.1 |
| 1919 | 56 | #894 | 57.1 |
| 1918 | 39 | #1,107 | 38.5 |
| 1917 | 33 | #1,197 | 35.7 |
| 1916 | 34 | #1,135 | 38.2 |
| 1915 | 30 | #1,208 | 35.4 |
| 1914 | 25 | #1,182 | 38.2 |
| 1913 | 27 | #964 | 52.7 |
| 1912 | 18 | #1,129 | 41.9 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,260 | 39.8 |
| 1909 | 9 | #1,065 | 54.9 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,176 | 47.7 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,213 | 45.1 |
| 1904 | 9 | #859 | 70.2 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,223 | 41.8 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,195 | 43.2 |
| 1888 | 9 | #742 | 74.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Orvel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Orvel has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 61 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Orvel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Orvel, and how old are they?
An estimated 171 Americans named Orvel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (15% of everyone recorded); the median is 77 years old and half are between 69 and 84. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 236 people named Orvel (2 women and girls, 234 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 252 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 11,379 babies since 1880, Orvel is the third most given (10% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Orvel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Orvel and names like it
- Compare Orvel and OrvalBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sOrvel peaked in 1919.
- Oklahoma’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Orvel since 1910.
- The top names of 1919The year the most babies were named Orvel.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Orvel alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with OMost given first.