How rare is the name Lemuel?

5,168 people in the United States have the first name Lemuel, about 1 in 58,443. It ranks #3,821 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

LEMUEL

#3,821

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
5,168
About
1 in 58,443
This common or more
83.1%
Who bears it

Of the 5,168 people named Lemuel, 38.8% reported their origin as Black, 30.2% as White and 15.9% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Lemuel peaked in 1921, when 147 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1921
Births that year
147
In 2025*
74 ▼50%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 9,965 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Lemuel by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #586. The largest share of babies named Lemuel, 21.1%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#586400
1890s#938255
1900s#1,130255
1910s#1,160873
1920s#1,1951,242
1930s#1,315895
1940s#1,511865
1950s#1,6751,001
1960s#1,935882
1970s#2,458670
1980s#3,128571
1990s#4,089533
2000s#5,510479
2010s#4,772634
2020s#4,548410
Before 19016.9%
Greatest Generation 1901–2721.1%
Silent Generation 1928–4516.3%
Baby boom 1946–6418.4%
Generation X 1965–8011.5%
Millennials 1981–968.8%
Generation Z 1997–128%
2013 and later8.9%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Lemuel is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Lemuel has been most common in North Carolina (5.7×), Virginia (3.6×), and South Carolina (3.2×), and least common in Ohio (0.2×).

4,177 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Lemuel

#3,818 Kyson · 5,171#3,820 Lorin · 5,169#3,822 Domonique · 5,165#3,823 Amberly · 5,162

Also a last name

As a last name, Lemuel ranks #87,947 of 156,621, with 227 people. See Lemuel as a last name

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