Arnell
Feminine · “Eagle”
Arnell is given to both — 798 girls and 1,282 boys since 1880. See Arnell as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Arnell and Arnett take the same Germanic front and finish it with two different French endings, one a diminutive and one a feminine. Both are in the American record, both are given to children of either sex, and the difference between them is two letters and about four hundred years of borrowing.
How old is the name Arnell?
Arnell first appears in US birth records in 1910 — 115 years ago. The typical Arnell alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 400 people named Arnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Arnell most popular?
Arnell peaked in 1934, reaching #1697 nationally. See the whole 1934 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From arn to Arnell
The story of Arnell
An ending that arrives without its rules will be used for whatever the borrowing language needs. In French, -elle marks a woman's name and always has: Danielle, Michelle, Gabrielle. English took the sound and not the system, and it became the single commonest device in American naming for making a name usable for a child of either sex, because it looks feminine to anybody who knows French and simply looks like a name to everybody else. Arnell sits exactly there. It is a man's name by descent, it is spelled like a woman's by borrowing, and the record holds it for both without ever settling the question.
Meaningscholars disagree
Eagle, with a borrowed ending
The front is the Germanic element for an eagle, which stands at the head of Arnold, Arnulf and Arnfinn. The ending is French, and which French ending is a real question: -elle is the feminine that French uses to make women's names, and -el is the masculine it pairs with. American naming took both without the grammar, so the ending here signals a shape rather than a sex.
How the name formed
- arn
- Arnold
- Arnell
Related forms: Arnaud · Arnold
Pronouncing Arnell
ar-NELL
Two syllables with the stress at the back, which is the French pattern surviving in the ending. Some families say AR-nell, moving the weight forward, and that is English reasserting itself over a borrowed shape.
Nicknames for Arnell
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1910
- Most girls named
- 196222 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1697reached in 1934
- Change vs 1997
- −14.3%6 in 1998, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Arnell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Arnaud in French — related form
- Arnold in German — related form
Arnells among us
people named Arnell are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Arnell sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short, firm and easy to spell once heard, with no silent letters anywhere.
- It works for a child of either sex without looking like a statement about that.
- Final stress gives it a definite finish and makes it carry when called.
- The record carries this spelling for boys and girls both, so it signals nothing on a form.
- Arnelle, Arnel and Arnell all exist, so spelling it out is permanent.
- Two live stress patterns, and the first person to say it aloud fixes it for everybody.
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What they receive
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Arnell
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Arnells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Arnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Arnell in 2025?
- Arnell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Arnell with classmates?
- Arnell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More A names
The most-given names starting with A, all years combined.
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Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Arnell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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