Campbell
Feminine · “crooked mouth”
Campbell is given to both — 7,300 girls and 6,214 boys since 1880. See Campbell as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Campbell began as the name of one of the largest Highland clans in Scotland, carried on charters and battle rolls for some eight centuries before anyone thought to give it to a baby. It has the compact shape American parents have long liked in surname names — two beats, the stress on the first, a p that nobody pronounces. Said aloud it comes out KAM-bul, closer to a drumbeat than to a mouthful.
How old is the name Campbell?
Campbell first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Campbell alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 7,200 people named Campbell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Campbell most popular?
Campbell peaked in 2025, reaching #617 nationally. Today it ranks #617, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Campbell appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Caimbeul to Campbell
The story of Campbell
The Campbells were a Gaelic-speaking kindred of Argyll in western Scotland, on record from the thirteenth century and eventually the family of the Dukes of Argyll — a clan whose name appears in Scottish law, land grants and long feuds for centuries. Emigration and the Highland clearances carried the surname to Ulster, Canada, Australia and in great numbers to the American South and Appalachia. From there it followed the ordinary American path by which family surnames become first names, usually starting inside families who already had the name in their tree. It is now given to girls and boys alike in the United States, leaning toward girls without settling there.
Meaning
crooked mouth
From the Scottish Gaelic caimbeul, from cam (crooked, bent) and beul (mouth). Like many clan names it started as a personal nickname for one man and outlived every memory of him.
How the name formed
- Caimbeul
- Campbell
Related forms: Caimbeul · Caimbeul
Pronouncing Campbell
KAM-bul
The p is silent in Scotland, England and the United States alike. Two syllables, stress on the first; a spelling pronunciation with an audible p is not the standard one.
Nicknames for Campbell
High
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
- 1989
- Most girls named
- 2025474 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #617reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +73.6%474 in 2025, from 273
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.
Campbell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caimbeul in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Caimbeul in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee.
Campbells among us
people named Campbell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,391 born in 2025 was named Campbell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Teressa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Campbell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Teressa climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Teressa's path sketches the road Campbell is walking now.
Campbell is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Campbell is headed
Campbell should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Campbell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Campbell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Cam gives an immediate, well-worn short form that works equally for a girl or a boy.
- The spelling is fixed and internationally recognized — a clan name with an unbroken written record since medieval Scotland.
- Common as a surname across the English-speaking world, so nobody has to be taught what it is.
- Two clean syllables with the stress up front, which sits easily beside most middle names.
- The soup company is the first thing many Americans think of, and a child will hear about it. It tends to pass quickly, but it does not pass entirely.
- The silent p invites the misspelling Cambell, so expect a lifetime of small corrections on forms and coffee cups.
- Given to both girls and boys, it currently leans toward girls in US records — worth knowing that a Campbell on paper will sometimes be assumed to be the other one.
- The literal meaning is an old physical nickname, not a compliment. Eight centuries of use have long since drained it, but the dictionary entry is what it is.
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What they receive
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Campbell
Feminine · #617 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Campbells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,200 people named Campbell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Campbell in 2025?
- Campbell ranks #617 among US girl names in 2025, with 474 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Campbell?
- About 1 in every 3,391 US girls born in 2025 was named Campbell — 474 in all.
- Will my child share the name Campbell with classmates?
- Campbell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Campbell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marie#617 · Anne#619 · Ari#614 · Amiyah#620 · Ariya#614 · Sierra#614 · Keira#621 · Goldie#621
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Campbell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Campbell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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