Purnell
Purnell was last recorded in 2010, when 6 babies were given it; 768 Americans have been recorded with it between 1913 and 2010 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Purnell by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Purnell?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #11,826, in 2010; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
21 babies in 1919, the peak
Purnell peaked in 1919, when 21 babies were given it (15 boys, #2,129 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 6 | #11,826 | 3.1 |
| 2004 | 5 | #12,743 | 2.5 |
| 2003 | 6 | #10,525 | 3.0 |
| 1995 | 8 | #6,824 | 4.2 |
| 1994 | 8 | #6,815 | 4.1 |
| 1992 | 10 | #5,542 | 5.0 |
| 1991 | 7 | #7,075 | 3.5 |
| 1990 | 10 | #5,278 | 4.9 |
| 1989 | 9 | #5,479 | 4.5 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,514 | 3.3 |
Every recorded year (76)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 5 | #7,314 | 2.7 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,457 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 8 | #4,807 | 4.5 |
| 1982 | 9 | #4,497 | 5.0 |
| 1981 | 8 | #4,841 | 4.5 |
| 1980 | 6 | #6,048 | 3.4 |
| 1979 | 13 | #3,310 | 7.6 |
| 1978 | 11 | #3,553 | 6.7 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,542 | 6.7 |
| 1974 | 7 | #4,513 | 4.5 |
| 1973 | 13 | #2,824 | 8.3 |
| 1972 | 13 | #2,784 | 8.0 |
| 1971 | 14 | #2,656 | 7.9 |
| 1970 | 13 | #2,707 | 7.0 |
| 1969 | 12 | #2,650 | 6.7 |
| 1968 | 8 | #3,301 | 4.6 |
| 1967 | 18 | #1,886 | 10.3 |
| 1966 | 14 | #2,190 | 7.8 |
| 1965 | 17 | #1,975 | 9.1 |
| 1964 | 19 | #1,886 | 9.5 |
| 1963 | 17 | #2,026 | 8.4 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,489 | 2.4 |
| 1961 | 8 | #3,295 | 3.8 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,269 | 3.8 |
| 1959 | 11 | #2,629 | 5.2 |
| 1958 | 15 | #2,149 | 7.1 |
| 1957 | 15 | #2,170 | 7.0 |
| 1956 | 10 | #2,751 | 4.7 |
| 1955 | 11 | #2,524 | 5.3 |
| 1954 | 12 | #2,408 | 5.9 |
| 1953 | 12 | #2,371 | 6.1 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,472 | 5.7 |
| 1951 | 13 | #2,224 | 6.9 |
| 1950 | 8 | #2,963 | 4.5 |
| 1949 | 9 | #2,753 | 5.1 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,003 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 10 | #2,629 | 5.5 |
| 1946 | 14 | #2,007 | 8.6 |
| 1945 | 7 | #2,933 | 5.2 |
| 1944 | 18 | #1,667 | 13.2 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,168 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 6 | #3,481 | 4.3 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,456 | 8.1 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,260 | 9.9 |
| 1938 | 11 | #2,290 | 9.9 |
| 1937 | 8 | #2,847 | 7.5 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,674 | 8.6 |
| 1933 | 9 | #2,683 | 9.1 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,295 | 6.7 |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,038 | 7.7 |
| 1930 | 10 | #2,744 | 9.1 |
| 1929 | 9 | #2,919 | 8.4 |
| 1928 | 10 | #2,802 | 9.0 |
| 1927 | 11 | #2,664 | 9.8 |
| 1926 | 6 | #4,082 | 5.4 |
| 1925 | 10 | #2,891 | 9.0 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,203 | 7.9 |
| 1923 | 5 | #4,746 | 4.6 |
| 1921 | 13 | #2,476 | 11.8 |
| 1920 | 10 | #2,920 | 9.4 |
| 1919 | 15 | #2,129 | 15.3 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,475 | 7.6 |
| 1916 | 7 | #3,439 | 7.9 |
| 1915 | 11 | #2,419 | 13.0 |
| 1914 | 6 | #3,180 | 9.2 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,162 | 9.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Purnell a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Purnell has been given almost only to boys: 6 girls in 76 years of records.
Girls and boys named Purnell: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Purnell, and how old are they?
An estimated 433 Americans named Purnell and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (56% of everyone recorded); the median is 59 years old and half are between 45 and 69. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 405 people named Purnell (19 women and girls, 386 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 484 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% 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 that rose and fell in the same decades as Purnell
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 Purnell and names like it
- Compare Purnell and ParnellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sPurnell peaked in 1919.
- Maryland’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Purnell since 1910.
- The top names of 1919The year the most babies were named Purnell.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Purnell alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with PMost given first.