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The surname Noel

A patronymic surname, carried by 31,768 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈnəʊ(ə)l/ 2 syllables Soundex N400 Also a first name

Noel: #1,103 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#10,001Dubon Noel #1,103, 31,768 people Noel: #1,103 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Noel #1,103, 31,768 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Noel is more common than 99.3% of them.

Origin

* (names): From Noel in the sense of Christmas; given since Middle Ages to children born at Christmastide. * (city in Missouri): Named for brothers Clark Wallace and William Jasper Noel, stockmen and owners of a sawmill. * (community of Nova Scotia, Canada): Named after its most prominent resident, Noël Doiron.

Noel is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 31,768 people named Noel in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 9,719 Americans. That is up 12% since 2000, when the Census counted 28,401.

#1,103
rank among US surnames
31,768
people in 2010
11
per 100,000 Americans
+11.9%
change since 2000 (was #1,130)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#1,094Gay32,0259,641
#1,095Guthrie31,9569,662
#1,096Gallardo31,9099,676
#1,097Workman31,8569,692
#1,098McFadden31,8399,697
#1,099Blanco31,8009,709
#1,100Gorman31,7889,713

Who is named Noel

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

60% of people named Noel identified as white (not Hispanic), 34% as Black (not Hispanic) and 3.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 60%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 34%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 3.4%
  • Two or more races 1.7%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.9%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Noels

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker
    British athlete, politician, Cabinet minister, life peer and Nobel Peace Prize winner (188
  • Nerlens Noel
    American basketball player (born 1994)
  • Iván Noel
    Argentinian film director and screenwriter, 1968–2021
  • David Noel
    American basketball player (born 1984)
  • Edmond Noel
    American politician (1856-1927)
  • Chris Noel
    American actor, model, DJ, USO entertainer, born 1941

Notable Noels come mostly from the United States (4), the United Kingdom (1) and Spain (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

  • Noyal

Surnames that sound like Noel

Noel has the Soundex code N400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code N400.

Questions

Where does the surname Noel come from?
* (names): From Noel in the sense of Christmas; given since Middle Ages to children born at Christmastide. * (city in Missouri): Named for brothers Clark Wallace and William Jasper Noel, stockmen and owners of a sawmill. * (community of Nova Scotia, Canada): Named after its most prominent…
How common is the surname Noel?
31,768 people in the United States had the surname Noel in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 9,719 Americans. It ranked 1,103rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Noel?
In the 2010 Census, 60% of people named Noel identified as white (not Hispanic), and 34% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Noel?
Philip Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, British athlete, politician, Cabinet minister, life peer and Nobel Peace Prize winner (188, followed by Nerlens Noel.
Where is the surname Noel most common?
Wikidata records people named Noel in the United States, the United Kingdom and Spain.
How do you pronounce Noel?
Noel is /ˈnəʊ(ə)l/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Noel?
Noel is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Noel getting more or less common?
More common. 28,401 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 31,768 in 2010, up 12%.
What are other spellings of Noel?
Noyal.
Is Noel also a first name?
Yes. Noel is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.