How common is the surname Lovell?

21,171 people in the United States had the surname Lovell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 14,583 Americans. It ranked 1,700th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Lovell?

Jim Lovell, American astronaut (1928–2025), followed by Santiago Lovell.

Where is the surname Lovell most common?

Wikidata records people named Lovell in the United States and Argentina.

How do you pronounce Lovell?

Lovell is /ˈlʌ.vəl/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Lovell getting more or less common?

More common. 20,628 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 21,171 in 2010, up 2.6%.

The surname Lovell

A Norman nickname surname, carried by 21,171 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈlʌ.vəl/ 2 syllables Soundex L140

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Lovell is more common than 99% of them.

Origin

Norman origin

Originally a nickname, from Anglo-Norman lou (“wolf”) + -el (diminutive suffix).

Lovell is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

One of 128 Norman surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 21,171 people named Lovell in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 14,583 Americans. That is up 2.6% since 2000, when the Census counted 20,628.

#1,700

rank among US surnames

21,171

people in 2010

7.2

per 100,000 Americans

+2.6%

change since 2000 (was #1,596)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,691	Waddell	21,301	14,494
#1,692	Stanford	21,295	14,498
#1,693	Latham	21,277	14,511
#1,694	Zhu	21,265	14,519
#1,695	Irvin	21,263	14,520
#1,696	Matos	21,258	14,524
#1,697	Gagnon	21,208	14,558

Who is named Lovell

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

88% of people named Lovell identified as white (not Hispanic), 6.0% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.3% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 88%
Black (not Hispanic) 6.0%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.3%
Two or more races 2.2%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.1%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.8%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Lovells

4 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Jim Lovell
American astronaut (1928–2025)
Santiago Lovell
Argentine heavyweight boxer (1912–1966)
Guillermo Lovell
Boxer (1918–1967)
Vella Lovell
American actress, born 1985

Notable Lovells come mostly from the United States (2) and Argentina (2).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Lovell

Lovell has the Soundex code L140, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code L140.

Other Norman surnames

All 128 Norman surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Lovell come from?: Originally a nickname, from Anglo-Norman lou (“wolf”) + -el (diminutive suffix).
How common is the surname Lovell?: 21,171 people in the United States had the surname Lovell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 14,583 Americans. It ranked 1,700th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Lovell?: In the 2010 Census, 88% of people named Lovell identified as white (not Hispanic), and 6.0% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Lovell?: Jim Lovell, American astronaut (1928–2025), followed by Santiago Lovell.
Where is the surname Lovell most common?: Wikidata records people named Lovell in the United States and Argentina.
How do you pronounce Lovell?: Lovell is /ˈlʌ.vəl/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Lovell?: Lovell is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Lovell getting more or less common?: More common. 20,628 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 21,171 in 2010, up 2.6%.