Name Awesome

Howell

#6,943 in 2025Boys' name

Good + sight, through Hywel

Howell has been given to 3,923 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #6,943 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1920, with 93 recorded.

Babies named Howell, 2025

1 in 276,000

Howell over time, 1880–2025

Boys
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Howell: meaning, origin, and history

Good + sight, through Hywel

Welsh

What Howell means

Howell belongs to the name family reached through Howell → Hywel. Its meaning is “good + sight”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Welsh Hywel. Doublet of Huell and Powell.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Howell (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Howell is used in English. Its origins include Welsh.

Howell comes through Welsh Hywel.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Powell and Hywel.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Howell is pronounced /haʊ(w)əɫ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,923 boys were recorded with the name Howell between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 93 in 1920; its best national rank was #491 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,086 in 2020 to #6,943 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #9,940 in 2015 to #6,943 in 2025.

How common is Howell?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 276,000
12 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 142,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,943
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
191,493 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Howell sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 191,493 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Howell. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Howells were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Howell was born before 1937 — so the typical Howell is around 88 today.

Median birth year
1937
About 88 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
18.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.5%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,238
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 18.6% of all recorded uses (730).

Is Howell 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
+487
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−857
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,997
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.71×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
12.9%
Peak was 1920 (93)
Years since peak
105
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#491
1880

Spellings of Howell

Howell is not the most common spelling — Lowell is, with 45.8% against Howell's 4.3%.

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.

Where Howell is used

Across 1910–2025, Howell was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in 10,000 boys, against 1 in 74,262 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Georgia1 in 10,000
  2. 2Alabama1 in 20,000
  3. 3Tennessee1 in 25,000
  4. 4Texas1 in 50,000
  5. 5Arkansas1 in 100,000
  6. 6Florida1 in 100,000
  7. 7Mississippi1 in 100,000
  8. 8North Carolina1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Howell has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Howell around the world

Where Howell ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2019–2024
    #4,271
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Notable people named Howell

People whose public names include Howell, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Howell in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Howell. Linked forms have their own page here.

Hywel

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Howell by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,943
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 857
Best rank ever
#491
1880
Peak year
1920
93 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,923
Count in 2025
12

Names similar to Howell

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

LovellJewellDonellJarellLavellDarellTerellJamellLydellLatrellJarrellJerellRonellCarnellMarkellMikellKendellMarcellPowellRomellPernellWindellRondellHowie

Names with a curve like Howell

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Howell, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

TheadoreGarnettLoyAlfordBonnieRowlandAlvisRollieBertrandObieDillardLonzo

Sibling names for Howell

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Howell

Top names of 1920, Howell's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Boys' names starting with HWelsh Boy NamesWelsh Names