Kornelius

Boys' name

From Latin Cornelius; literal meaning unconfirmed

Kornelius has been given to 51 babies in the U.S. since 1987. 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 2012, with 8 recorded.

Babies named Kornelius, 2023

1 in 663,000

Kornelius over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kornelius: meaning, origin, and history

From Latin Cornelius; literal meaning unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kornelius means

Kornelius is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Kornelius is used in Faroese.

Kornelius comes through Latin Cornelius.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 51 boys were recorded with the name Kornelius between 1987 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 8 in 2012; its best national rank was #7,602 in 1987.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kornelius?

Kornelius had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023: 1 in 663,000; 5 of 3,314,783 births
Among boys only: 1 in 342,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 459,528 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Kornelius 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 2023 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 459,528 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kornelius. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Korneliuss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kornelius was born before 2010 — so the typical Kornelius is around 15 today.

Median birth year: 2010; About 15 years old
Biggest decade: 2010s; 45.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 80.4%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 51; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2010s — 45.1% of all recorded uses (23).

Is Kornelius 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 2012 (8)
Years since peak: 13; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 18.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #7,602; 1987

Spellings of Kornelius

Kornelius is not the most common spelling — Cornelius is, with 93.5% against Kornelius's 0.13%.

Cornelius93.5%36,407
Cornelious6.4%2,475
Kornelius0.13%51

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.

Kornelius around the world

Where Kornelius 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.

Norway
1880–2025
#308
in 2025

Popularity data from Statistics Norway. SSB data under CC BY 4.0.

Kornelius by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #7,602; 1987
Peak year: 2012; 8 that year
First recorded: 1987
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 51
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Kornelius

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

Sibling names for Kornelius

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

For a sister

Sofie Aubri Bayleigh Audriana Cambria Farah Ayleen Jaylee

For a brother

Landry Harper Jovanni Maxim Channing Madden Eliot Jagger

Explore around Kornelius

Top names of 2012, Kornelius's peak year The 2010s in full Other names that peaked in 1987 Boys' names starting with K Faroese Boy Names