Bell

Where Bell comes from

The dictionaries list Bell as a given name — a male given name transferred from the surname, of occasional usage — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • 1 syllable
Along the way
  1. 1873
    Bell Elliott Palmer born
    American writer
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #278 among girls — 31 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1884
    Peak, #275
    50 babies named Bell — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1906
    Bell I. Wiley born
    American historian
  5. 1927
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,885.
  6. 2006
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname, of occasional usage.
  • A female given name, variant of Belle; mostly used as a middle name in the 19th century.
Namesakes
  • Bell I. Wiley · American historian, 1906–1980
  • Bell Elliott Palmer · American writer, 1873–1947

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.