Parnell
Parnell was last recorded in 2017, when 8 babies were given it; 1,479 Americans have been recorded with it between 1912 and 2017 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Parnell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Parnell mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Parnell is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
Matronymic from a medieval spoken form of Petronella.
/pɑːˈnɛl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Parnell?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #9,467, in 2017; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
39 babies in 1963, the peak
Parnell peaked in 1963, when 39 boys were given it, #1,249 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 8 | #9,467 | 4.3 |
| 2016 | 5 | #13,673 | 2.6 |
| 2014 | 6 | #11,758 | 3.1 |
| 2011 | 5 | #13,793 | 2.6 |
| 2008 | 6 | #12,179 | 2.9 |
| 2006 | 9 | #8,557 | 4.4 |
| 2005 | 9 | #8,125 | 4.5 |
| 2004 | 6 | #10,965 | 3.0 |
| 2003 | 9 | #7,671 | 4.6 |
| 2002 | 5 | #11,990 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 6 | #10,194 | 3.1 |
| 1998 | 8 | #7,349 | 4.2 |
| 1997 | 9 | #6,476 | 4.8 |
| 1996 | 9 | #6,355 | 4.8 |
| 1995 | 9 | #6,267 | 4.7 |
| 1994 | 16 | #4,034 | 8.3 |
| 1993 | 13 | #4,621 | 6.6 |
| 1992 | 15 | #4,043 | 7.5 |
| 1991 | 14 | #4,162 | 6.9 |
| 1990 | 18 | #3,418 | 8.8 |
| 1989 | 19 | #3,171 | 9.5 |
| 1988 | 23 | #2,567 | 12.0 |
| 1987 | 24 | #2,375 | 12.9 |
| 1986 | 16 | #3,091 | 8.7 |
| 1985 | 13 | #3,543 | 7.0 |
| 1984 | 19 | #2,597 | 10.5 |
| 1983 | 16 | #2,879 | 8.9 |
| 1982 | 17 | #2,792 | 9.4 |
| 1981 | 11 | #3,790 | 6.1 |
| 1980 | 8 | #4,829 | 4.5 |
| 1979 | 14 | #3,121 | 8.1 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,889 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 10 | #3,773 | 6.1 |
| 1976 | 8 | #4,302 | 5.1 |
| 1975 | 15 | #2,720 | 9.6 |
| 1974 | 23 | #1,965 | 14.6 |
| 1973 | 19 | #2,188 | 12.2 |
| 1972 | 18 | #2,222 | 11.1 |
| 1971 | 19 | #2,187 | 10.7 |
| 1970 | 15 | #2,475 | 8.1 |
| 1969 | 18 | #2,030 | 10.1 |
| 1968 | 19 | #1,882 | 10.9 |
| 1967 | 25 | #1,562 | 14.3 |
| 1966 | 21 | #1,711 | 11.8 |
| 1965 | 32 | #1,373 | 17.2 |
| 1964 | 38 | #1,280 | 19.1 |
| 1963 | 39 | #1,249 | 19.2 |
| 1962 | 33 | #1,382 | 16.0 |
| 1961 | 23 | #1,723 | 10.8 |
| 1960 | 14 | #2,287 | 6.6 |
| 1959 | 8 | #3,218 | 3.7 |
| 1958 | 19 | #1,878 | 9.0 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,963 | 4.2 |
| 1956 | 19 | #1,874 | 9.0 |
| 1955 | 14 | #2,200 | 6.8 |
| 1954 | 16 | #2,025 | 7.8 |
| 1953 | 18 | #1,875 | 9.1 |
| 1952 | 10 | #2,634 | 5.1 |
| 1951 | 10 | #2,618 | 5.3 |
| 1950 | 22 | #1,602 | 12.3 |
| 1949 | 17 | #1,862 | 9.6 |
| 1948 | 14 | #2,092 | 8.0 |
| 1947 | 15 | #2,049 | 8.2 |
| 1946 | 7 | #3,105 | 4.3 |
| 1945 | 11 | #2,213 | 8.2 |
| 1944 | 15 | #1,861 | 11.0 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,369 | 7.7 |
| 1942 | 9 | #2,665 | 6.5 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,826 | 6.5 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,060 | 11.2 |
| 1939 | 13 | #2,028 | 11.7 |
| 1938 | 14 | #1,957 | 12.6 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,438 | 9.4 |
| 1936 | 14 | #1,945 | 13.5 |
| 1935 | 6 | #3,559 | 5.8 |
| 1934 | 10 | #2,520 | 9.7 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,690 | 18.2 |
| 1932 | 12 | #2,286 | 11.5 |
| 1931 | 17 | #1,821 | 16.4 |
| 1930 | 25 | #1,489 | 22.8 |
| 1929 | 17 | #1,909 | 15.8 |
| 1928 | 19 | #1,809 | 17.2 |
| 1927 | 21 | #1,737 | 18.6 |
| 1926 | 10 | #2,858 | 9.0 |
| 1925 | 14 | #2,290 | 12.5 |
| 1924 | 10 | #2,968 | 8.8 |
| 1923 | 16 | #2,097 | 14.6 |
| 1922 | 10 | #2,951 | 9.2 |
| 1921 | 22 | #1,693 | 20.0 |
| 1920 | 19 | #1,867 | 17.9 |
| 1919 | 13 | #2,353 | 13.3 |
| 1918 | 10 | #2,837 | 9.9 |
| 1917 | 22 | #1,571 | 23.8 |
| 1916 | 12 | #2,365 | 13.5 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,267 | 14.1 |
| 1914 | 5 | #3,622 | 7.6 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,053 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,010 | 18.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Parnell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,479 Americans recorded as Parnell, 4% are girls and 96% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Parnell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Parnell, and how old are they?
An estimated 862 Americans named Parnell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (58% of everyone recorded); the median is 54 years old and half are between 38 and 64. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 832 people named Parnell (47 women and girls, 785 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 949 born in the U.S. The Census count is 12% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
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 2 names spelled alike, given to 2,247 babies since 1880, Parnell is the most given (66% 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 Parnell
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 Parnell and names like it
- Compare Parnell and PurnellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sParnell peaked in 1963.
- Illinois’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Parnell since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Parnell: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1963The year the most babies were named Parnell.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Parnell alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.