Abimael
Masculine · “my father is God”
Abimael comes out of a genealogy — one of those long lists of names in Genesis that most readers pass over — and it has had a second life in Spanish-speaking countries that its single biblical mention would never have predicted.
How old is the name Abimael?
Abimael first appears in US birth records in 1964 — 61 years ago. The typical Abimael alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 1,400 people named Abimael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Abimael most popular?
Abimael peaked in 2017, reaching #2186 nationally. Today it ranks #2765, 579 places below that high. See the whole 2017 chart.
Where it comes from
From Abima'el to Abimael
The story of Abimael
Abimael appears once in the Hebrew Bible, in the tenth chapter of Genesis, as one of the sons of Joktan in the table of nations — a list that sets out the peoples of the world as the writers understood them. Names from that chapter had almost no European afterlife, but the Protestant and Pentecostal traditions in Latin America took names from every part of the Hebrew scriptures, including its most obscure corners. Abimael reaches United States records almost entirely from Puerto Rico and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, where it is an ordinary name rather than a curiosity.
Meaningscholars disagree
my father is God
The name divides as avi, 'my father', and El, the Semitic word for God, with a middle syllable that has been read two ways. Taking it as avi-ma-El gives 'my father is God'. An alternative reads the middle as part of a separate element and gives 'father of Mael'. The first is the more widely accepted; neither is beyond argument, which is common with the very old names in the Genesis lists.
How the name formed
- Abima'el
- Abimael
Related forms: אבימאל · Abimael
Pronouncing Abimael
ah-bee-mah-EL
Four syllables with the stress on the last, in both Hebrew and Spanish. English speakers meeting it cold tend to move the stress forward to ah-BIM-ay-el, which is a different shape entirely.
Nicknames for Abimael
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
- 1964
- Most boys named
- 201761 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2186reached in 2017
- Change vs 2024
- +58.6%46 in 2025, from 29
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.
Abimael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אבימאל in Hebrew — transliteration
- Abimael in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Abimaels among us
people named Abimael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 37,132 born in 2025 was named Abimael
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 Tomy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Abimael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tomy climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tomy's path sketches the road Abimael is walking now.
Abimael sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Abimael is headed
Abimael is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium 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.
Abimael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Abimael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine biblical name with a documented Hebrew structure, not a modern construction.
- Abi, Abe and Mael are three natural short forms across two languages.
- Distinctive without being unpronounceable — the sounds are all straightforward in English and Spanish.
- Four syllables with the stress at the end is a shape English speakers get wrong until told.
- It appears once in scripture and in a list, so it carries no story of its own the way Daniel or David does.
- Outside Spanish-speaking communities it will need spelling out every time.
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What they receive
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Abimael
Masculine · #2765 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Abimaels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Abimael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Abimael in 2025?
- Abimael ranks #2765 among US boy names in 2025, with 46 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Abimael?
- About 1 in every 37,132 US boys born in 2025 was named Abimael — 46 in all.
- Will my child share the name Abimael with classmates?
- Abimael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Abimael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stephon#2765 · Jafet#2765 · Dwight#2765 · Sheldon#2765 · Mills#2765 · Asante#2765 · Arlin#2765 · Yandel#2765
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Abimael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Abimael and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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