Russell

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled 'Russell' in CH Switzerland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Russell is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name129K records spelled Russell4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Also written Russel-L, Rüssell

• Bangla given name24K records spelled Russell67 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Bangladesh, United States, India, United Kingdom

  Languages: Bangla, English, Hindi

  Also written Rasel, রাসেল, Russel, Raşel, Rãsêl

• Polish given name16K records spelled Russell4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, Czechia, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Ŗựşşęļļ

82 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Russell is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, ANF nickname for someone with red hair, representing a dim. of Rouse with the hypocoristic suffix -el. Vars.: Russel, Rous(s)el(l), Rowsell, Russill. Cogns.: Fr.: Roussel, Rouxel, Leroussel, Rousseau(x), Lerousseau. It.: Rosselli, Rossi(e)llo, Russello. Cat.: Ros(s)ell. Dims.: Fr.: Rouselet, Rousselin, Rousselot. It.: Rossellini. Patrs.: Fr.: Aurousseau. Flem.: Rosseels.

  as a name·A dictionary of surnames

• In English, An English, Scottish and Irish surname transferred from the nickname from the Norman nickname for someone with red hair.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, Bertrand, British intellectual {Nobel

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Old French; red-haired

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• Piccolo [uomo] rosso

  as a name·Il grande libro dei nomi per bebè. Significato, origini, curiosità. Oltre 7000 nomi per bambine e bambini Significato,…

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• John Russell Hindb. 1823GBEnglish astronomer
• Kim Philbyb. 1912GBnot in their usual nameKGB mole for the Soviet Union (1912–1988)
• Leon Russellb. 1942USAmerican singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and session musician
• Russi Taylorb. 1944USnot in their usual nameAmerican voice actress (1944–2019)
• Russell Hulseb. 1950USAmerican astronomer
• Russell Croweb. 1964NZNew Zealand actor
• Rick Riordanb. 1964USnot in their usual nameAmerican author (born 1964)
• Russell Brandb. 1975GBEnglish comedian, actor, and podcaster (born 1975)
• Andrew Garfieldb. 1983USnot in their usual nameEnglish and American actor (born 1983)
• Russell Westbrookb. 1988USAmerican basketball player (born 1988)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 942 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Russell?

We estimate roughly 203 thousand people bear Russell (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Russell have the most bearers?

We estimate about 202 thousand people bear Russell in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled russell.

How common is Russell compared with other names?

In the United States, Russell is the 188th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Russell a male or female name?

Russell is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Russell mean?

Recorded meaning: From Rousel, literally ‘little Rouse’, an Anglo-Norman nickname for a red-haired person.