Ariel
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “Lion of God (Hebrew)”
Ariel is given to both — 21,968 boys and 78,697 girls since 1880. See Ariel as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Ariel comes from the Hebrew scriptures, where it means "lion of God," and it has been carried by an airy spirit in Shakespeare's The Tempest, a moon of Uranus, and a Disney mermaid — few names travel that far. In the mouth it is three light syllables that end on a lift, and it shortens neatly to Ari. It has stepped back from its busiest stretch without ever going away.
How old is the name Ariel?
Ariel first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Ariel alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 21,000 people named Ariel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ariel most popular?
Ariel peaked in 1991, reaching #360 nationally. Today it ranks #558, 198 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Ariel appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Arî'el (Hebrew) to Ariel
The story of Ariel
Ariel is Hebrew, אֲרִיאֵל, built from the words for lion and for God, and it appears in the Hebrew Bible both as a man's name in the Book of Ezra and as a name for the city of Jerusalem in Isaiah. English took it up through scripture and then through literature: Shakespeare gave the name to the spirit of the air in The Tempest in the early seventeenth century, and Alexander Pope gave it to a sylph in The Rape of the Lock a century later. In modern Israel it became a widespread name for men, and in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries it is likewise mostly masculine. In American English the animated film of The Little Mermaid pulled it strongly toward girls, which is where the American record still leans.
Meaning
Lion of God (Hebrew)
In the Book of Isaiah the same word is used as a title for Jerusalem, and elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible for the hearth of an altar — so the name carries a place and an object alongside the lion.
How the name formed
- Arî'elHebrew
- AriēlGreek, Septuagint
- ArielEnglish
- Arielle / Ariellaelaborated feminine forms
Related forms: אֲרִיאֵל (Ari'el) · Ariel · Arielle · Ariele · Ариэль · Ariella
Pronouncing Ariel
AIR-ee-ul
AIR-ee-ul is the usual American pronunciation; AR-ee-ul (rhyming the first part with "far") is also heard. In Hebrew and in Spanish the stress falls at the end: ah-ree-EL. Expect to state your preference more than once.
Nicknames for Ariel
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 2017600 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #360reached in 1991
- Change vs 2023
- −5.8%533 in 2025, from 566
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.
Ariel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אֲרִיאֵל (Ari'el) in Hebrew — same name
- Ariel in Spanish — same name
- Arielle in French — related form
- Ariele in Italian — related form
- Ариэль in Russian — transliteration
- Ariella in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Ariels among us
people named Ariel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,205 born in 2025 was named Ariel
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 Coleman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ariel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Coleman climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Coleman's path sketches the road Ariel is walking now.
Ariel 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 Ariel is headed
Ariel 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.
Ariel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ariel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One short form, Ari, works for a child of either sex and stands on its own as a full name — useful for someone who later wants something briefer.
- A documented record going back to the Hebrew Bible, with stops in Shakespeare, eighteenth-century English poetry and modern Israel.
- Recognized in Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, French and English without respelling, which travels well across families and borders.
- Familiar to nearly everyone in the US while unlikely to be duplicated in a classroom.
- The Disney mermaid is the first association for many Americans, and a child may field the question or the song for years. It fades with each new generation of films, but it is real now.
- Because the name goes to boys and girls, and leans one way in English and the other in Hebrew and Spanish, forms and paperwork will occasionally guess wrong. This lands hardest on a boy named Ariel in the US.
- Two pronunciations circulate in American English, AIR-ee-ul and AR-ee-ul, plus the end-stressed ah-ree-EL. Nothing here is difficult, but corrections will be part of the routine.
- Ariel is also a large laundry-detergent brand across Latin America and Europe, which may raise an eyebrow in some families and no eyebrows at all in others.
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What they receive
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Ariel
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #558 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ariels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 21,000 people named Ariel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ariel in 2025?
- Ariel ranks #558 among US boy names in 2025, with 533 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ariel?
- About 1 in every 3,205 US boys born in 2025 was named Ariel — 533 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ariel with classmates?
- Ariel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ariel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Saul#557 · Morgan#559 · Porter#560 · Armando#556 · Deacon#561 · Chosen#555 · Mohammad#561 · Zakai#563
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ariel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ariel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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