Cantrell
UnisexBoys' nameGirls' nameMeaning not yet documented
Cantrell has been given to 487 babies in the U.S. since 1918. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1979, with 18 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 87% boys, 13% girls all-time.
Babies named Cantrell, 2021
1 in 678,000
Cantrell over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Cantrell over time
In 2021, Cantrell went to 0% girls and 100% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Cantrell?
Cantrell had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2021, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 2021
- 1 in 678,000
- 5 of 3,389,958 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 350,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2021
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 469,949 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Cantrell sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2021 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 469,949 children born in 2021 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cantrell. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Cantrells were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Cantrell was born before 1992 — so the typical Cantrell is around 33 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1990s
- 25.6% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 38.4%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 409
- People you could plausibly meet
1990s — 25.6% of all recorded uses (108).
Is Cantrell rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1979 (18)
- Years since peak
- 46
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Shifting
- 24.3% average annual change
Spellings of Cantrell
Cantrell is not the most common spelling — Kentrell is, with 25.9% against Cantrell's 2.6%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Cantrell by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Cantrell
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Cantrell
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.