Lavell
Masculine
Lavell is given to both — 2,958 boys and 327 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Lavell is two entirely different names that produce the same spelling, and nothing in the record separates them. One is Lavelle, an Irish surname from Ó Maolfhábhail. The other is the American La- prefix attached to a -vell ending. Both are real, and no one can tell which is which.
How old is the name Lavell?
Lavell first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Lavell alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 2,400 people named Lavell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lavell most popular?
Lavell peaked in 1968, reaching #1165 nationally. Today it ranks #7194, 6,029 places below that high. See the whole 1968 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ó Maolfhábhail to Lavell
Our story of Lavell
Most name questions have one answer that is hard to find. This one has two answers that are both correct and cannot be separated. Ó Maolfhábhail was a Mayo family; anglicized as Lavelle, the surname arrived in America with Irish emigration and joined the ordinary stock of surnames that later became first names. Meanwhile, from the 1940s onward American naming built compounds from a small set of prefixes — La-, De-, Ja-, Ta- — attached to endings harvested from existing names, and -vell was among them, from Darnell and Terrell and Lavelle itself. So a Lavell born in 1968, the year the name peaks, might be named for a great-grandmother's surname or built from a pattern, and the birth record will show exactly the same six letters either way. Names do not always carry their history; sometimes two histories share one spelling and the archive keeps no note of which.
Meaningnot established
Not established
If the source is the Irish surname Lavelle, from Ó Maolfhábhail, the underlying name means something like devotee of movement or of travel, though the second element is not firmly settled. If the source is the American prefix pattern, there is no meaning at all. The two lines converge on the same spelling, and for any individual bearer the answer is a family fact, not a linguistic one.
How the name formed
- Ó Maolfhábhail
- Lavelle
- Lavell
Related forms: Lavelle · Levell
Pronouncing Lavell
luh-VELL
Two syllables, stress on the second, with the first reduced to a schwa. The Irish surname Lavelle is said the same way, which is part of why the two lines are indistinguishable.
Nicknames for Lavell
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 199157 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1165reached in 1968
- Change vs 2023
- −38.9%11 in 2025, from 18
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.
Lavell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Lavelle in Irish — spelling variant
- Levell in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois, California.
Lavells among us
people named Lavell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 155,280 born in 2025 was named Lavell
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 Lemar test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lavell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lemar climbed just as high around 1900, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lemar's path sketches the road Lavell is walking now.
Lavell 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
Lavell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lavell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is read correctly on sight by nearly everyone.
- The back-stress pattern is shared with Darnell, Terrell and Montell.
- It may carry a genuine Irish surname history, depending on the family.
- Lavelle with a final e is the more common spelling of the surname.
- The origin cannot be determined from the name itself.
- The sound places it in a specific American naming period.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Lavell
Masculine · #7194 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lavells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Lavell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lavell in 2025?
- Lavell ranks #7194 among US boy names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lavell?
- About 1 in every 155,280 US boys born in 2025 was named Lavell — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lavell with classmates?
- Lavell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lavell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Junius#7194 · Orie#7194 · Shade#7194 · Chesley#7194 · Joesph#7194 · Lofton#7194 · Macon#7194 · Benjiman#7194
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lavell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lavell and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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