Cornell
Masculine · “possibly 'horn”
Cornell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 11,347 boys against 348 girls since 1880.
Cornell is Cornelius worn down, and Cornelius was one of the great Roman family names — the gens that produced Scipio Africanus and Sulla. It is also an American university, founded by a man whose surname came from the same source by a Dutch route. Its American peak as a given name is 1952.
How old is the name Cornell?
Cornell first appears in US birth records in 1890 — 135 years ago. The typical Cornell alive today was born around 1968, making them about 57 years old. About 8,500 people named Cornell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cornell most popular?
Cornell peaked in 1952, reaching #478 nationally. Today it ranks #6143, 5,665 places below that high. See the whole 1952 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cornelius to Cornell
The story of Cornell
Saint Cornelius was pope in the third century and a Roman centurion named Cornelius is the first Gentile convert in Acts, which together carried the name into Christian use. It became particularly common in the Netherlands, where Cornelis and its short form Cornel are ordinary, and Dutch settlers brought it to New York. Ezra Cornell, who founded the university in 1865, descended from that stock. The given name Cornell rose in twentieth-century American use, particularly in African-American naming, and peaked in 1952.
Meaningscholars disagree
possibly 'horn'
Cornelius is a Roman gens name, and Roman family names are frequently unrecoverable. The most cited proposal connects it to cornu, 'horn', which would make it descriptive or occupational in origin. That derivation is repeated everywhere and demonstrated nowhere. What is certain is the family: the Cornelii were one of the most prominent patrician clans of the Republic for four hundred years.
How the name formed
- Cornelius
- Cornelis
- Cornell
Related forms: Cornelis · Cornelius · Cornelio
Pronouncing Cornell
kor-NELL
Two syllables, stress at the end. Some American speakers front-stress it, KOR-nell, which is how the university is usually said. Both circulate on bearers of the given name.
Nicknames for Cornell
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
- 1890
- Most boys named
- 1955218 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #478reached in 1952
- Change vs 2023
- −33.3%14 in 2025, from 21
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.
Cornell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cornelis in Dutch — related form
- Cornelius in Latin — related form
- Cornelio in Portuguese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois, Ohio, Missouri.
Cornells among us
people named Cornell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 122,005 born in 2025 was named Cornell
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 Dorothy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cornell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dorothy climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dorothy's path sketches the road Cornell is walking now.
Cornell sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Cornell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cornell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a genuinely distinguished Roman and Dutch history.
- Corey and Neil are both usable short forms with independent lives.
- The pronunciation is straightforward for English readers.
- The university association is immediate for most Americans.
- Two stress patterns circulate.
- The Roman name's own etymology is not demonstrated.
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What they receive
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Cornell
Masculine · #6143 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cornells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,500 people named Cornell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cornell in 2025?
- Cornell ranks #6143 among US boy names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cornell?
- About 1 in every 122,005 US boys born in 2025 was named Cornell — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cornell with classmates?
- Cornell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cornell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ruel#6143 · Vasco#6143 · Kemper#6143 · Yates#6143 · Roark#6143 · Raja#6143 · Marquan#6143 · Orville#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cornell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cornell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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