Parnell
Masculine
Parnell is given to both — 1,422 boys and 57 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Parnell is Petronilla worn down, and the wearing down did the name no favors. By the later Middle Ages the shortened form had become a common noun in English for a priest's mistress, and the name effectively went out of use as a first name for centuries, surviving as a surname and coming back much later on the strength of one Irish politician.
How old is the name Parnell?
Parnell first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Parnell alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 900 people named Parnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Parnell most popular?
Parnell peaked in 1963, reaching #1238 nationally. See the whole 1963 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Roman family name and a Latin diminutive of it to Parnell
The story of Parnell
The saint was popular enough in medieval England for her name to become ordinary, and ordinary names get shortened. Petronilla became Pernel and then Parnell, and somewhere in the fourteenth century the shortened form acquired a second meaning: a wanton woman, and specifically a priest's concubine. It appears in that sense in Langland and in church court records. A name cannot survive that, and it did not; it dropped out of use as a personal name almost entirely and continued only as a surname. Its return in the nineteenth century had nothing to do with any of this and everything to do with an Irish parliamentary leader whose surname it was.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name descends from a Latin diminutive of a Roman family name, and that family name's own origin is not established; a connection to the word for stone, through the apostle Peter, is traditional and is not supported. So the chain is documented and the far end is blank, which is the ordinary situation for Roman gentile names.
How the name formed
- A Roman family name and a Latin diminutive of it
- Petronilla worn down to Pernel and Parnell
- The short form becoming an insult in Middle English
- Surviving as a surname and returning through an Irish politician
Related forms: Petronilla · Peronelle
Pronouncing Parnell
par-NELL
Two syllables with the stress at the back in Ireland and in most American use. Some families put it on the front instead, giving PAR-nul, which is the older English pronunciation of the surname.
Nicknames for Parnell
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 196339 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1238reached in 1963
- Change vs 2014
- +33.3%8 in 2017, 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.
Parnell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Petronilla in Latin — related form
- Peronelle in French — related form
Parnells among us
people named Parnell 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
Parnell 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 back stress gives it a definite shape and it is never mispronounced.
- It carries a genuinely remarkable political history that can be told quickly.
- It works on the register for either child, which the record confirms.
- It reads unambiguously as a surname to most people.
- The medieval history of the short form is not something to look up expecting good news.
- It is firmly of the middle of the twentieth century in American records.
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Parnell
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Parnells 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 Parnell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Parnell in 2025?
- Parnell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Parnell with classmates?
- Parnell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Paul#262 · Patrick#235 · Peter#187 · Philip#527 · Phillip#651 · Parker#102 · Preston#299 · Pedro#455
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Parnell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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