How Many People Are Named William Powell?
There are approximately 1,695 people named William Powell living in the United States today. That makes this name combination common, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 202,215 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name William with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Powell. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and Census background data where it is available.
Estimated People with This Name
1,695
1 in 202,215 Americans
Combination Rarity
Common
First Name
View full profileWilliam
Last Name
View full profilePowell
William: Popularity Over Time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name William. The peak year was 1947 with 67,155 births. The average person named William today is 54 years old.
Ancestry of the First Name William
In the 2020 Census, the first name William was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (83.31%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (6.87%) and Hispanic (5.13%).
These percentages describe the people who had the first name William in the 2020 Census. They do not tell you the deeper origin or meaning of the name itself.
Read this as a snapshot of who already had the name in 2020, not as a trend line. The SSA chart above is still the better way to see how William rose or fell over time.
Ancestry of the Powell Surname
The surname Powell was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White in the 2020 Census.
This is a self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people who had the surname Powell in the published Census surname tables. It gives useful context around who was recorded with the name, but it does not tell the full family history of every Boone line.
How we calculated this
The first name "William" has an estimated frequency of 0.681% among living Americans, based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024 adjusted for mortality using CDC 2023 life tables.
The surname "Powell" appears at a rate of 72.57 per 100,000 people in the 2020 U.S. Census.
We do not use the Census first-name snapshot for the main estimate because it is only published once every 10 years. The latest public first-name Census file is from 2020, which is already 6 years old. SSA birth records plus CDC survival data give a better current estimate of how many people with the first name William are likely to be alive now.
Multiplying these frequencies against the U.S. population of ~343 million gives 1,695 estimated people. This assumes first names and last names are statistically independent. Full methodology.
Other people named William
Other people with the surname Powell
William Powell: Questions and Answers
How many people are named William Powell?
We estimate approximately 1,695 people named William Powell are alive in the United States today. The first name William is shared by 2,335,115 Americans, and the surname Powell is shared by 248,737.
How rare is the name William Powell?
This name combination is classified as Common, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 202,215 Americans. The first name William is very common and the surname Powell is common.
Is William a male or female name?
William is predominantly male, with 99.6% of bearers being male and 0.4% female. It peaked in popularity in 1947 and the average bearer today is 54 years old.
What does the Census say about the first name William?
In the 2020 Census, the first name William was most commonly recorded among people who identified as White (83.31%). The next largest recorded groups were Black (6.87%) and Hispanic (5.13%). These percentages describe the people who had the name in the 2020 Census, not the deeper origin of the name itself.
Where does this data come from?
First name data comes from the Social Security Administration (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables. When available, first-name Census background data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau first-name tables. Surname data comes from the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau. Full methodology.
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