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Mendel

#1,846 in 2025Boys' name

Diminutive of Manno

Mendel has been given to 2,942 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #1,846 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 114 recorded.

Babies named Mendel, 2025

1 in 38,500

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Mendel: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Manno

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Mendel means

Mendel is a diminutive of Manno.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Mendel → Manno → mannus. The family’s proposed meaning is “small horse or pony”, recorded in Latin with the source elements mannus.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Manno.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,942 boys were recorded with the name Mendel between 1912 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 114 in 2024; its best national rank was #1,525 in 1956.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,785 in 2020 to #1,846 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,865 in 2015 to #1,846 in 2025.

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 Mendel?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 38,500
86 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 19,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,846
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
26,721 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Mendel 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 26,721 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Mendel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Mendels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Mendel was born before 2005 — so the typical Mendel is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
22.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
56.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,629
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 22.9% of all recorded uses (675).

Is Mendel 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
−302
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−61
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+19
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.09×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
75.4%
Peak was 2024 (114)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,525
1956

Spellings of Mendel

Mendel is not the most common spelling — Manuel is, with 66.5% against Mendel's 1.0%.

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 Mendel is used

Across 1910–2025, Mendel was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 6,250 boys, against 1 in 12,326 across all states with data. It was least common in Florida (1 in —).

016 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 6,250
  2. 2New Jersey1 in 100,000
  3. 3South Carolina1 in 100,000
  4. 4Florida1 in —

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. Mendel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Mendel around the world

Where Mendel 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
    1997–2025
    #3,684
    in 2025
  • France
    1985–2025
    #2,333
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2004–2021
    #2,155
    in 2021

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Mendel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,846
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 61
Best rank ever
#1,525
1956
Peak year
2024
114 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,942
Count in 2025
86

Names similar to Mendel

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

MennoYandelWendelMendyRaudelMenachemMenasheRandelMenelikAbdelFidelAdelKendelRaydelDelMandelYidelRondelCordelMengLyndelEdelFadelLindel

Names with a curve like Mendel

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

MayerJeronimoSloanArisBennetGentryArieGrayAramDovRafeLazarus

Sibling names for Mendel

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 Mendel

Top names of 2024, Mendel's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1956Boys' names starting with MYiddish Boy NamesYiddish Names