Araceli
Feminine · “altar of heaven”
Araceli is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 20,268 girls against 138 boys since 1880.
Araceli comes straight out of Latin, from the words for the altar of heaven, and it has been carried for centuries by Spanish-speaking families with a devotion to Our Lady of Araceli. Said aloud it runs in four easy beats with the stress falling on the third, a shape it shares with Rosalie and Natalie. It has been on American records since well before the Second World War, and it is being given again.
How old is the name Araceli?
Araceli first appears in US birth records in 1939 — 86 years ago. The typical Araceli alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 20,000 people named Araceli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Araceli most popular?
Araceli peaked in 2002, reaching #487 nationally. Today it ranks #746, 259 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Where it comes from
From ara caeli to Araceli
The story of Araceli
The name begins as two Latin words rather than one: ara, altar, and caeli, of heaven. It attached itself to the Roman basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli, which stands on the Capitoline Hill, and from Marian devotion it passed into Spain as a given name — Nuestra Señora de Araceli is honored as patroness of Lucena in Andalusia. From Spain it traveled with Spanish speakers to Mexico, the Caribbean and the Philippines, and into the United States, where it is most strongly represented in the Southwest and California. The spelling Aracely developed alongside it and is used just as seriously.
Meaning
altar of heaven
From the Latin phrase ara caeli, 'altar of the sky' or 'altar of heaven.'
How the name formed
- ara caeli
- Aracoeli
- Araceli
- Aracely
Related forms: Aracely · Aracelis · Aracoeli · Aracéli · Ara Caeli
Pronouncing Araceli
ah-rah-SEH-lee
Four syllables, stress on the third. English speakers often say ar-uh-SELL-ee, and in Castilian Spanish the c is pronounced like a th. All three are heard; the family's own version settles it.
Nicknames for Araceli
High
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
- 1939
- Most girls named
- 2002573 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #487reached in 2002
- Change vs 2023
- +4.3%364 in 2025, from 349
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.
Araceli in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Aracely in Spanish — spelling variant
- Aracelis in Spanish (Caribbean) — related form
- Aracoeli in Italian — related form
- Aracéli in Portuguese — spelling variant
- Ara Caeli in Latin — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Arizona.
Aracelis among us
people named Araceli are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 4,416 born in 2025 was named Araceli
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Araceli
- #746
- Araceli on the 2025 chart
- #503
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Araceli went to 364 girls in 2025, but Aracely and Aracelli are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 527, which makes it the 503rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 243 places above the chart.
- Araceli364
- Aracely151
- Aracelli12
About 1 girl in 3,050 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 4,416 for Araceli 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
The Ardith test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Araceli's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ardith climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ardith's path sketches the road Araceli is walking now.
Araceli is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Araceli is headed
Araceli looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 23% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Araceli beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Araceli in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A meaning that is fully settled and easy to state: altar of heaven, straight from Latin.
- Spelled phonetically in Spanish and readable at first sight in English, even by people who have not met it before.
- Several established short forms already in use — Ara, Celi, Chelo — so there is room to be informal.
- A continuous record in the US going back before the Second World War, and use across Spain, Latin America and the Philippines.
- Araceli and Aracely are both long-standing spellings, so expect to specify which one, and to correct forms and rosters more than once.
- The pronunciation shifts between Spanish and English speakers — the middle c can be an s or, in Castilian Spanish, a th. Worth deciding early which version the family uses.
- It is concentrated in Texas, California and Arizona, so in other parts of the country a child may be the first Araceli people have met — a small explaining job rather than a real obstacle.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Araceli to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Araceli? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Araceli
Feminine · #746 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aracelis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 20,000 people named Araceli are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Araceli?
- Araceli is the most-used spelling in US records — 364 of the 527 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Aracely and Aracelli.
- How popular is the name Araceli in 2025?
- Araceli ranks #746 among US girl names in 2025, with 364 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Araceli?
- About 1 in every 4,416 US girls born in 2025 was named Araceli — 364 in all.
- Will my child share the name Araceli with classmates?
- Araceli will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Araceli
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dani#746 · Mikayla#746 · Maisy#745 · Karina#749 · Valery#743 · Davina#749 · Kiana#743 · Kensley#741
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Araceli? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Araceli and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle