Terrell
Feminine · “stubborn”
Terrell is given to both — 1,585 girls and 36,502 boys since 1880. See Terrell as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Terrell has had two separate lives a century apart. It appears in the American record in the eighteen eighties as a surname being used as a first name, in the ordinary Southern way, fades, and then returns a hundred years later as a completely different kind of name, chosen by different families for different reasons. Very few names manage two independent waves that far apart.
How old is the name Terrell?
Terrell first appears in US birth records in 1920 — 105 years ago. The typical Terrell alive today was born around 1969, making them about 56 years old. About 1,400 people named Terrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Terrell most popular?
Terrell peaked in 1970, reaching #1544 nationally. See the whole 1970 chart.
Where it comes from
From A Norman surname from a word for stubbornness to Terrell
The story of Terrell
The first wave belongs to the American habit of taking surnames, particularly surnames from the family's own history, and putting them on sons. That practice produced thousands of first names in the nineteenth-century South and most of them faded within a generation or two. The second wave, a century later, has a different character entirely: the name arrives with a set of others sharing its shape and its stress pattern, is chosen for how it sounds rather than for any family connection, and rises much faster and higher than it ever did the first time. The two waves are not continuous. There is a long quiet stretch between them, and the men named in the first wave and the men named in the second have essentially nothing in common except the letters.
Meaningscholars disagree
stubborn
The surname it comes from is Norman, and the usual reading takes it from an Old French word applied to a draft animal that will not pull, and by extension to a person who will not be moved. That is the standard account and it is not certain. What is certain is that the name is a surname first, and surnames of this kind began as nicknames applied to one individual and then descended to people the nickname did not describe.
How the name formed
- A Norman surname from a word for stubbornness
- Used as a first name in the nineteenth-century South
- A long quiet stretch in between
- A second and much larger wave a century later
Pronouncing Terrell
tuh-RELL
Two syllables with the stress at the back, which is what distinguishes it from Terrell said the older way, with the stress at the front. Both are in use, and the two waves of the name tend to divide along that line.
Nicknames for Terrell
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
- 1920
- Most girls named
- 197159 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1544reached in 1970
- Change vs 2006
- +20.0%6 in 2008, from 5
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.
Terrells among us
people named Terrell 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
Terrell 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 strong, definite shape that carries well.
- Rell and Terry are two completely different short forms with different feels.
- It works on the register for either child, and the record shows it doing so.
- The stress is genuinely unsettled and divides roughly by generation.
- Terrill and Tyrrell are the same surname in other coats and will be confused with it.
- The name is closely tied to a particular decade in its second life.
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What they receive
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Terrell
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Terrells 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 Terrell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Terrell in 2025?
- Terrell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Terrell with classmates?
- Terrell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Terrell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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