Ariell
Feminine · “Hebrew ari el”
Ariell is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 895 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
There are three unrelated Ariels. In Isaiah it is a name for Jerusalem and is usually read as lion of God. In The Tempest it is an airy spirit Shakespeare invented in 1611. In 1989 it was given to an animated mermaid, and the American name peaks the following year.
How old is the name Ariell?
Ariell first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Ariell alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 900 people named Ariell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ariell most popular?
Ariell peaked in 1990, reaching #1974 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 6,886 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ari el to Ariell
The story of Ariell
The Isaiah passage is difficult and the word may not mean lion of God at all: the same consonants can be read as an altar hearth, and both readings have ancient support, so the prophet may be calling Jerusalem a lion or an altar. Shakespeare's use is separate. Ariel in The Tempest is a spirit of air, freed from a tree by Prospero and bound to serve him, and the name appears in earlier occult sources where it is assigned to an angel or a spirit of the air. Whether Shakespeare knew the Hebrew is unclear. The name entered English use slowly and was male until the late twentieth century; it is a standard modern Israeli man's name. The 1989 film made it a girl's name in America almost overnight, and the birth data shows the effect within a year.
Meaning
Hebrew ari el, lion of God
From Hebrew ari, a lion, and el, God. In Isaiah 29 the word is applied to Jerusalem, and in Ezra it names a man. Shakespeare used it for the spirit in The Tempest, apparently drawing on a name in occult literature rather than on the Bible. The modern American female name follows a 1989 animated film. Ariell is a respelling with a doubled l. It peaks in 1990.
How the name formed
- ari el
- Ariel
- Ariell
Related forms: Ariel · Ariel · Ariel
Pronouncing Ariell
AR-ee-el
Three syllables, stress on the first in American English. The Hebrew is ah-ree-EL with the stress at the end. Spanish says ah-RYEL with two syllables. The doubled l is silent.
Nicknames for Ariell
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
- 1982
- Most girls named
- 199069 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1974reached in 1990
- Change vs 2024
- +83.3%11 in 2025, from 6
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.
Ariell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ariel in English — spelling variant
- Ariel in Hebrew — transliteration
- Ariel in Spanish — same name
Ariells among us
people named Ariell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Ariell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ariell
- #8860
- Ariell on the 2025 chart
- #353
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ariell went to 11 girls in 2025, but Ariel and Aryel are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 870, which makes it the 353rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 8,507 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,847 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 146,115 for Ariell 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 Riva test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ariell's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Riva climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Riva's path sketches the road Ariell is walking now.
Ariell 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
Ariell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ariell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Hebrew meaning is settled and vivid.
- Ari is a strong short form used across several languages.
- The name has both a biblical and a Shakespearean history.
- Ariel is the standard spelling by a wide margin.
- In Hebrew and Spanish it is a man's name.
- One animated film dominates the American association.
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What they receive
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Ariell
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ariells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Ariell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ariell?
- Ariell is one of 3 recorded spellings. Ariel is the more common one — 851 births in 2025 against 11 for Ariell.
- How popular is the name Ariell in 2025?
- Ariell ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ariell?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Ariell — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ariell with classmates?
- Ariell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ariell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ariell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ariell and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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