Tell
#8,178 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Tell has been given to 206 babies in the U.S. since 1982. In 2025 it ranked #8,178 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1988, with 13 recorded.
Babies named Tell, 2025
1 in 332,000
Tell 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Tell?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 332,000
- 10 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 171,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #8,178
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 229,791 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Tell sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 229,791 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tell. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Tells were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Tell was born before 1996 — so the typical Tell is around 29 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1980s
- 29.1% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 44.2%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 206
- People you could plausibly meet
1980s — 29.1% of all recorded uses (60).
Is Tell 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
- +1,585
- Places climbed
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −205
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 1.00×
- More babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 76.9%
- Peak was 1988 (13)
- Years since peak
- 37
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 26.2% average annual change
Spellings of Tell
Tell is not the most common spelling — Bill is, with 20.5% against Tell's 0.03%.
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.
Tell by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
Names similar to Tell
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Tell
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.