The Tell surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 1,536 people carried this name — #18,128 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 192,300 people counted. That is down 8% from 1,662 in 2000.
In Argentina’s national register
At least 317 people named Tell live in Argentina.
RENAPER only publishes a name in a province when more than ten people there share it, so the real number is higher. Most of them live in Santa Fe.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they live today
RENAPER (National Registry of Persons, Argentina), surnames of residents by province, December 2021 — CC BY 4.0.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 137 people named Tell.
10 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 23 départements, most often La Réunion.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
44 people named Tell live in Switzerland.
They live in 5 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Zurich.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In the Nordic population registers
1,365 people named Tell is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Tell in American newspapers,
1826–1928.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 8,293,210 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Tell,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Guillem August Tell i Lafont 1861–1929 · writer -
Eugenie Eboue-Tell 1891–1972 · politician -
Olive Tell 1894–1951 · actor -
Alma Tell 1898–1937 · actor -
Guillaume Tell 1902–1998 · long-distance runner -
Wilhelm Tell 1827–1890 · Oberlehrer
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Tell.
- Tedesco 6,133 · U.S. census
- Teixeira 8,895 · U.S. census
- Tejedor 173 · U.S. census
- Tejero 372 · U.S. census
- Tekin 310 · U.S. census
- Telemaque 425 · U.S. census
- Tella 435 · U.S. census
- Telle 356 · U.S. census
- Tellechea 364 · U.S. census
- Tellez 22,494 · U.S. census
- Tellier 1,843 · U.S. census
- Tello 11,512 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Tell is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.