Jarrel
Masculine
Randall Jarrell wrote the shortest famous poem of the Second World War. Five lines about a man in the ball turret of a bomber, ending with a sentence so brutal that anthologies have been printing it for eighty years without ever quite domesticating it. He was a critic first, a poet second, and the poem is the thing everybody knows.
How old is the name Jarrel?
Jarrel first appears in US birth records in 1919 — 106 years ago. The typical Jarrel alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 900 people named Jarrel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jarrel most popular?
Jarrel peaked in 1987, reaching #1202 nationally. See the whole 1987 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From several unrelated names converge on a similar sound to Jarrel
The story of Jarrel
Jarrell spent the war as a training instructor and never flew a combat mission, which makes the poem stranger rather than less. He wrote it as a monologue by a dead gunner — a man curled inside a plexiglass ball on the underside of an aircraft, six miles up, firing at fighters — and the last line describes what was done with the body afterwards in seven words. He also wrote a great deal of criticism, some of it so sharp that poets are still complaining, and was killed by a car on a road at night in his fifties.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The spelling has no settled origin. It resembles Jarrell, an English surname; Gerald and Darrell, both Germanic; and Jared, which is Hebrew. American families writing by ear in the twentieth century produced all of these and several more, and the record carries them side by side without any indication of which family meant which.
How the name formed
- several unrelated names converge on a similar sound
- Jarrell established as an English surname
- American families write the sound as they hear it
- Jarrel appears in the record in the 1910s
- peaks in the late 1980s
Related forms: Jarrell · Darrell
Pronouncing Jarrel
juh-REL
Two syllables with the stress at the back. Some families front it, JARR-ul, which the spelling permits equally well.
Nicknames for Jarrel
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
- 1919
- Most boys named
- 198558 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1202reached in 1987
- Change vs 2021
- −16.7%5 in 2023, from 6
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.
Jarrel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jarrell in English — spelling variant
- Darrell in English — related form
Jarrels among us
people named Jarrel 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
Jarrel 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
- It is read correctly at sight once the stress is settled.
- It has a serious literary namesake who is not overexposed.
- It is genuinely rare while sounding entirely familiar.
- Jarrell, Jerrell and Darrell are all in the record and will be substituted.
- The stress placement is genuinely unsettled.
- There is no meaning to give him and no agreed origin.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Jarrel to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Jarrel? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jarrel
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Jarrels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Jarrel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jarrel in 2025?
- Jarrel is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Jarrel with classmates?
- Jarrel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
James#6 · John#23 · Joseph#29 · Joshua#66 · Jason#165 · Jacob#43 · Jeffrey#552 · Jonathan#89
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jarrel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jarrel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle