Skip to content

The surname Nowell

A French surname, carried by 6,112 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex N400

Nowell: #5,676 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Nowell #5,676, 6,112 people Nowell: #5,676 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Nowell #5,676, 6,112 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Nowell is more common than 96.5% of them.

Origin

French origin

From Middle English Nowel, from Old French noel (“Christmas”).

One of 791 French surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 6,112 people named Nowell in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 50,515 Americans. That is up 16% since 2000, when the Census counted 5,281.

#5,676
rank among US surnames
6,112
people in 2010
2.1
per 100,000 Americans
+15.7%
change since 2000 (was #6,004)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#5,668Ismail6,12650,399
#5,669Brister6,12350,424
#5,671Elmer6,11950,457
#5,672Shaughnessy6,11750,473
#5,673Christopherson6,11550,490
#5,674Serra6,11450,498
#5,675Paradis6,11350,506

Who is named Nowell

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

77% of people named Nowell identified as white (not Hispanic), 17% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

  • White (not Hispanic) 77%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 17%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.8%
  • Two or more races 2.0%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Nowells

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Jaylen Nowell
    American basketball player (born 1999)
  • Bradley Nowell
    American musician (1968–1996)
  • Markquis Nowell
    American basketball player (born 1999)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Nowell

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

Other French surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Nowell come from?
From Middle English Nowel, from Old French noel (“Christmas”).
How common is the surname Nowell?
6,112 people in the United States had the surname Nowell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 50,515 Americans. It ranked 5,676th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Nowell?
In the 2010 Census, 77% of people named Nowell identified as white (not Hispanic), and 17% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Nowell?
Jaylen Nowell, American basketball player (born 1999), followed by Bradley Nowell.
Where is the surname Nowell most common?
Wikidata records people named Nowell in the United States.
Is the surname Nowell getting more or less common?
More common. 5,281 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 6,112 in 2010, up 16%.