Anibal
Masculine · “favor of Baal”
Anibal is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,928 boys against 22 girls since 1880.
Aníbal is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Hannibal, a Carthaginian name older than Latin. It has been in continuous use across the Spanish-speaking world for centuries and reached American records with families from Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Central America.
How old is the name Anibal?
Anibal first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Anibal alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 3,500 people named Anibal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anibal most popular?
Anibal peaked in 1976, reaching #911 nationally. Today it ranks #3128, 2,217 places below that high. See the whole 1976 chart.
Where it comes from
From Hannibaal to Anibal
The story of Anibal
The name is Punic, the language of Carthage, where Hannibaal was a common combination of divine name and blessing. Roman writers rendered it Hannibal, and through Latin it entered the Romance languages; Spanish dropped the initial H and added the accent that keeps the stress on the first syllable. Spain and Portugal both kept it, and it traveled to the Americas with them.
Meaning
favor of Baal
Baal was the title of a Phoenician god, meaning lord; the first element is the Punic root for grace or favor.
How the name formed
- Hannibaal
- Hannibal
- Aníbal
Related forms: Aníbal · Aníbal · Hannibal · Annibale
Pronouncing Anibal
AH-nee-bahl
Stress on the first syllable in Spanish. English speakers often move it to the middle, uh-NEE-bul.
Nicknames for Anibal
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
- 199092 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #911reached in 1976
- Change vs 2023
- −11.6%38 in 2025, from 43
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.
Anibal in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aníbal in Spanish — same name
- Aníbal in Portuguese — same name
- Hannibal in English — related form
- Annibale in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Anibals among us
people named Anibal are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 44,949 born in 2025 was named Anibal
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 Darry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anibal's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darry climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darry's path sketches the road Anibal is walking now.
Anibal 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 Anibal is headed
Anibal should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Anibal beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anibal in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Centuries of unbroken use in Spanish and Portuguese, with a documented ancient origin.
- It works in English without translation, since Hannibal is already a familiar shape.
- The accent is optional in American paperwork, so the name survives systems that refuse diacritics.
- In English the Hannibal connection now runs through a fictional character before it runs through the general of Carthage.
- Expect the stress to be moved and the accent to be dropped outside Spanish-speaking settings.
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What they receive
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Anibal
Masculine · #3128 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anibals are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Anibal are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Anibal in 2025?
- Anibal ranks #3128 among US boy names in 2025, with 38 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anibal?
- About 1 in every 44,949 US boys born in 2025 was named Anibal — 38 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anibal with classmates?
- Anibal will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anibal
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hamilton#3128 · Juanpablo#3128 · Courtney#3128 · Baxter#3128 · Javen#3128 · Hal#3128 · Dawud#3128 · Tavion#3128
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anibal? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anibal and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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