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Lemuel

#2,030 in 2025Boys' name

Devoted to God

Lemuel has been given to 9,965 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,030 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 147 recorded.

Babies named Lemuel, 2025

1 in 44,800

Lemuel over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Lemuel: meaning, origin, and history

Devoted to God

Hebrew

What Lemuel means

Lemuel means “devoted to God”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Hebrew לְמוּאֵל (lemu'él, ləmūʔel, literally “devoted to God”).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Lemuel is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Lemuel comes through Hebrew לְמוּאֵל.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Lemuel is pronounced /ˈlɛm.jə(wə)l/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 9,965 boys were recorded with the name Lemuel between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 147 in 1921; its best national rank was #195 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #2,159 in 2020 to #2,030 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,008 in 2015 to #2,030 in 2025.

How common is Lemuel?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 44,800
74 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 23,100
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,030
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
31,054 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Lemuel 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 31,054 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Lemuel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Lemuels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Lemuel was born before 1951 — so the typical Lemuel is around 74 today.

Median birth year
1951
About 74 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
12.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
14.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
5,180
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 12.5% of all recorded uses (1,242).

Is Lemuel 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
+118
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+129
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−22
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
1.03×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
50.3%
Peak was 1921 (147)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#195
1881

Spellings of Lemuel

Lemuel is not the most common spelling — Samuel is, with 94.6% against Lemuel's 1.1%.

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 Lemuel is used

Across 2016–2025, Lemuel was most concentrated in Massachusetts — about 1 in 14,286 boys, against 1 in 36,666 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in 100,000).

17 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Massachusetts1 in 14,286
  2. 2Maryland1 in 16,667
  3. 3Florida1 in 25,000
  4. 4Texas1 in 25,000
  5. 5North Carolina1 in 33,333
  6. 6New York1 in 33,333
  7. 7Pennsylvania1 in 50,000
  8. 8California1 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.

Lemuel around the world

Where Lemuel 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
    1996–2025
    #1,093
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2011–2025
    #577
    in 2025
  • France
    1977–2024
    #4,213
    in 2024
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #1,459
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1991–1991
    #481
    in 1991

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Lemuel

People whose public names include Lemuel, 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.

Lemuel in other languages

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

LemLemmyLemeul

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

Lemuel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,030
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 129
Best rank ever
#195
1881
Peak year
1921
147 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
9,965
Count in 2025
74

Names similar to Lemuel

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

ShmuelLemarImmanuelMarquelSammuelBenuelEmanuelLemontLemmieKemuelMiquelMiguelManuelLemonReuelJanuelRuelAmanuelLemanLemanuelEnmanuelNahuelEmmanuelJuel

Names with a curve like Lemuel

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

RaleighNapoleonHiramEveretteFritzJulesHoseaEmileWilliamsLeanderRichmondLafayette

Sibling names for Lemuel

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 Lemuel

Top names of 1921, Lemuel's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881More old man namesBoys' names starting with L