Abiel
Masculine · “God is my father”
Abiel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,617 boys against 28 girls since 1880.
Abiel is God is my father — a Hebrew statement, and the name of Saul's grandfather in the book of Samuel.
How old is the name Abiel?
Abiel first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Abiel alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 1,600 people named Abiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Abiel most popular?
Abiel peaked in 2024, reaching #1503 nationally. Today it ranks #1688, 185 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Avi'el to Abiel
The story of Abiel
Abiel is named in 1 Samuel as the grandfather of Saul, Israel's first king. Puritan families took up the more obscure biblical names in the seventeenth century, and Abiel became a New England staple — Abiel Holmes, father of the poet, carried it. It has returned to American use and is in current use.
Meaning
God is my father
From the Hebrew Avi'el — avi, 'my father', and El, 'God'. It is a complete statement rather than a word. The same avi element opens Abigail, Abner and Abiathar. The Hebrew is ordinary and the reading undisputed.
How the name formed
- Avi'el
- Abiel
Related forms: אביאל · Abiel · Aviel
Pronouncing Abiel
AY-bee-el
Three syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew Avi'el is ah-vee-EL with the stress at the end.
Nicknames for Abiel
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 2024119 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1503reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −18.5%97 in 2025, from 119
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Abiel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אביאל in Hebrew — transliteration
- Abiel in Spanish — same name
- Aviel in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Abiels among us
people named Abiel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 17,609 born in 2025 was named Abiel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Barth test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Abiel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Barth climbed just as high around 1955, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Barth's path sketches the road Abiel is walking now.
Abiel is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Abiel is headed
Abiel looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 42% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Abiel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Abiel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a complete statement and is undisputed.
- A documented biblical figure at the origin of Israel's monarchy carries it.
- Three syllables with a front stress, which holds up against a short surname.
- Abel is close enough in sound to cause constant confusion.
- The stress placement differs between Hebrew and English readings.
- The Abi clipping reads as feminine in English.
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What they receive
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Abiel
Masculine · #1688 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Abiels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Abiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Abiel in 2025?
- Abiel ranks #1688 among US boy names in 2025, with 97 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Abiel?
- About 1 in every 17,609 US boys born in 2025 was named Abiel — 97 in all.
- Will my child share the name Abiel with classmates?
- Abiel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Abiel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Alister#1688 · Yaman#1688 · Caelum#1688 · Darrell#1688 · Viggo#1688 · Raylen#1688 · Meyer#1688 · Ransom#1688
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Abiel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Abiel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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