Cornel

Where Cornel comes from

Cornel hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1919
    First appearance
    #4,168 among boys, 5 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1947
    Peak, #906
    59 babies named Cornel — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1948
    Cornel Dinu born
    Romanian footballer
  4. 1953
    Cornel West born
    American philosopher, political activist and writer
  5. 1954
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,956.
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Cornel West · American philosopher, political activist and writer, born 1953
  • Cornel Dinu · Romanian footballer, born 1948
  • Cornel Penu · Romanian handball player, born 1946
  • Cornel Durău · Romanian handball player, born 1957
  • Cornel Țăranu · Romanien composer and conductor, 1934–2023

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.