Amel
Masculine
Amel is given to both — 630 boys and 476 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Amel sits between two families and the 1915 American peak decides which. Arabic amal, hope, is a real and common name, but it is usually given to women and arrived in the United States much later. In 1915 the likelier source is Emil, the Roman family name Aemilius, whose own meaning has never been established.
How old is the name Amel?
Amel first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Amel alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 400 people named Amel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Amel most popular?
Amel peaked in 1915, reaching #1878 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 6,365 places below that high. See the whole 1915 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Aemilius to Amel
The story of Amel
A large share of the oldest Roman family names cannot be explained from Latin, and the reason is that Rome was for two centuries a city under Etruscan influence with an Etruscan ruling class. Etruscan is not an Indo-European language and is only partly deciphered; we can read the alphabet and a few hundred words and little else. Names like Aemilius, Sergius, Tarquinius and Volumnius are suspected of coming from it, which means their meanings are not recoverable and probably never will be. The Roman writers who explained them were guessing from Latin, the way an English speaker might explain a Welsh place name from English. This is a useful thing to know about classical names generally: the ones the ancients themselves explained are often the least reliable, because those are the ones that needed explaining.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Two candidates. Aemilius is a Roman gentilicial name of unknown meaning; the traditional connection to aemulus, rival or eager, is a guess of the kind Roman antiquarians made freely, and the name may well be Etruscan, like a good many old Roman family names. Separately, Arabic amal means hope and is a current given name, mainly female, while Amel is a common male name in Bosnia. The 1915 American date points to the first family rather than the second.
How the name formed
- Aemilius
- Emil
- Amel
Related forms: Emil · Amel · Amal
Pronouncing Amel
AH-mel
Two syllables, stress on the first. uh-MEL, with the stress at the end, is also heard. The Bosnian name is AH-mel; the Arabic amal is AH-mal with a short final vowel.
Nicknames for Amel
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
- 1914
- Most boys named
- 200121 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1878reached in 1915
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Amel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Emil in German — related form
- Amel in Bosnian — same name
- Amal in Arabic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Amels among us
people named Amel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Amel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Amel
- #8243
- Amel on the 2025 chart
- #914
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Amel went to 9 boys in 2025, but Amell is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 14, which makes it the 914th most-given boys’ name of the year — 7,329 places above the chart.
- Amel9
- Amell5
About 1 boy in 122,005 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 189,786 for Amel itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Amel 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
Amel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Amel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, balanced and easy to say in several languages.
- Mel gives an immediate short form.
- It works in Bosnian, Arabic and American settings alike.
- No settled meaning can be given, in either of its families.
- Amal, Amell and Emil are all near neighbors.
- Two stress patterns circulate.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Amel
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Amels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Amel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Amel?
- Amel is the most-used spelling in US records — 9 of the 14 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Amell.
- How popular is the name Amel in 2025?
- Amel ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Amel?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Amel — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Amel with classmates?
- Amel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Amel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Amel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Amel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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