Cornel
Just 72 Poles carry it, every one of them a man, so most people here will never meet a Cornel. A Latin name at root: it comes from Cornelius, built on the word for "horn".
Cornel Pronunciation
Cornel is pronounced TSOR-nel (/ˈt͡sɔrnɛl/).
What Cornel means
Where Cornel comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Cornel comes from Latin. Behind it stands the old Roman family name Cornelius, and the root is cornu, the word for horn. From that clan Rome drew consuls and generals for centuries.
In Poland the name usually settles as Kornel, the spelling most boys answer to when a teacher reads the class register. The version with a c looks more Roman on the page, though both lead back to the same Latin word. Christian tradition gave the name a patron: Cornelius, bishop of Rome from 251 to 253, whose feast falls on 16 September. That date became Kornel's name-day.
A horn is a plain thing. It signals and it defends. The meaning stayed close to the object as the name passed from Latin eastward into Polish.
The feminine form is Kornelia, and it has done well on its own. Choose Cornel now, and you land on cornu, the Latin word for horn.
How many people are named Cornel
1 in 296475 men in Poland is named Cornel. 72 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #4223 among male names.
Cornel's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been climbing since 2025.
Cornel as a middle name
Cornel is a first name for 72 men in Poland and a middle name for another 23, a 76/24 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1791st, between Clement (23) and Danek (23).
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#1789 Claudiu23
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#1790 Clement23
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#1791 Cornel23
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#1792 Danek23
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#1793 Duszan23