Ewell
Masculine · “a river source”
Ewell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,051 boys against 7 girls since 1880.
An ewell is the place a river comes out of the ground. The Old English word names a spring or a source — not a stream in general, but the specific point where water first appears — and a village in Surrey called that has carried it into surnames and eventually into first names.
How old is the name Ewell?
Ewell first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Ewell alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 500 people named Ewell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ewell most popular?
Ewell peaked in 1903, reaching #656 nationally. See the whole 1903 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From æwiell to Ewell
The story of Ewell
The name is two syllables and English readers will make it one. Written out it should be a diphthong followed by a full vowel — roughly YOO-el, with the l closing the second — but a name that short with a doubled consonant in it invites compression, and most people meeting it in print will produce a single syllable rhyming with jewel. Both readings are heard. The two-syllable version is closer to the word's history and the one-syllable version is what happens to nearly every English word of this shape given enough time, so the name is being pulled by a process that has already flattened a great many others.
Meaning
a river source, a spring
Old English, and the sense is precise rather than general. Places named this way are almost always sitting on a chalk or limestone spring line, where rivers do begin abruptly and visibly rather than gathering from a hillside.
How the name formed
- æwiell
- Ewell
Pronouncing Ewell
YOO-el
Two syllables with the stress at the front. One syllable rhyming with jewel is widely heard and is what most readers will guess.
Nicknames for Ewell
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 191863 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #656reached in 1903
- Change vs 1979
- −50.0%6 in 1982, from 12
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.
Ewells among us
people named Ewell 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
Ewell 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
- The meaning is concrete, visual and easy to explain to a child.
- It is short and genuinely rare with no competing associations.
- The spelling is unusual without containing anything difficult.
- The syllable count is unsettled and strangers will guess.
- The spelling is recorded for a few girls, but nearly every child with it is a boy.
- The generation that used it is now very old.
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What they receive
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Ewell
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Ewells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Ewell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ewell in 2025?
- Ewell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Ewell with classmates?
- Ewell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More E names
The most-given names starting with E, all years combined.
Edward#224 · Eric#273 · Ethan#24 · Eugene#943 · Elijah#7 · Ernest#1038 · Earl#2230 · Evan#153
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ewell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ewell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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