Howell
Masculine · “eminent”
Hywel Dda wrote down the law. In the tenth century a Welsh king gathered the customary law of his kingdoms and had it codified, and the result is remarkable for its period: women had property rights, divorce was available to both parties, and a child had standing.
How old is the name Howell?
Howell was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Howell alive today was born around 1937, making them about 88 years old. About 1,400 people named Howell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Howell most popular?
Howell peaked in 1880, reaching #482 nationally. Today it ranks #6803, 6,321 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hywel to Howell
The story of Howell
Hywel ap Cadell, called Hywel Dda, Hywel the Good, ruled most of Wales by the 940s and is credited with the codification of Welsh law; the surviving manuscripts are later, but the tradition is firm and the content is genuinely unusual for early medieval Europe in its treatment of women and of compensation. Welsh law remained in force in parts of Wales until the sixteenth century. The name Hywel became a Welsh surname as Howell and Powell, crossed to America, and was used as a given name in the nineteenth century in the ordinary way; its best year in United States records is 1880, at the very start of registration.
Meaning
eminent, conspicuous
Welsh Hywel, generally read as eminent or conspicuous, from a root meaning to be visible or prominent. The surname Howell is the English rendering of it, and the Welsh patronymic ap Hywel gives Powell by the same process that gives Pritchard and Bowen. The meaning is not in dispute.
How the name formed
- Hywel
- ap Hywel
- Howell
Related forms: Hywel · Powell · Houel
Pronouncing Howell
HOW-ul
Two syllables with the stress on the first. The Welsh Hywel is HUH-wel, with a short first vowel that English has turned into the ow of now.
Nicknames for Howell
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 192478 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #482reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- +33.3%12 in 2025, from 9
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.
Howell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Hywel in Welsh — same name
- Powell in English — related form
- Houel in Breton — related form
Howells among us
people named Howell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 142,340 born in 2025 was named Howell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Howell 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
Howell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Howell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Welsh meaning and a genuinely remarkable tenth-century lawgiver behind it.
- Howie is a warm and completely established everyday form.
- Marks a Welsh heritage clearly.
- The Welsh original sounds quite different from the English form.
- Howell and Powell are the same name and are constantly confused.
- It reads as a nineteenth-century name in American ears.
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Howell
Masculine · #6803 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Howells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Howell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Howell in 2025?
- Howell ranks #6803 among US boy names in 2025, with 12 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Howell?
- About 1 in every 142,340 US boys born in 2025 was named Howell — 12 in all.
- Will my child share the name Howell with classmates?
- Howell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Howell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zeb#6803 · Buster#6803 · Fabien#6803 · Eston#6803 · Tyjuan#6803 · Fuad#6803 · Aaiden#6803 · Sanford#6803
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Howell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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