Ariella
Feminine · Hebrew roots · “lion of God”
Ariella is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 22,371 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Ariella is the feminine form of Ariel, a name that reaches back to the Hebrew Bible, where the prophet Isaiah uses it as a byword for Jerusalem itself. Said aloud it has four unhurried syllables and lands on that soft -ella ending shared with Isabella and Gabriella. It has been on American records for decades, but its real wave has come recently, so most Ariellas are children rather than adults.
How old is the name Ariella?
Ariella first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Ariella is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 22,000 people named Ariella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ariella most popular?
Ariella peaked in 2020, reaching #154 nationally. Today it ranks #174, 20 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ari'el (Hebrew) to Ariella
The story of Ariella
Ariel is Hebrew, and it appears in scripture in two ways: as a name Isaiah gives to Jerusalem, and as one of the men Ezra sends as an envoy. For most of its history it was a masculine name, and in modern Hebrew it still is — Ariela and Ariella arose as the feminine forms, built the way Hebrew regularly makes a woman's name from a man's. English-speaking families took up Ariel for girls in the twentieth century, and the fuller Ariella followed, its doubled L giving it the look of the Romance -ella names. In the United States it has grown quietly and without a sudden spike, mostly in the last generation or two.
Meaning
lion of God
The Hebrew root ari (lion) plus El (God) gives the accepted reading. Separately, the same consonants appear in Ezekiel describing the altar hearth of the temple, which some scholars read as a second, unrelated sense of the word — but the name itself is understood as 'lion of God'.
How the name formed
- Ari'elHebrew
- Ariel
- Ariela
- Ariella
Related forms: אריאלה (Ariela) · Arielle · Ariela · Ariella · Ariela · Ariel
Pronouncing Ariella
ar-ee-ELL-ah
The stress sits on the third syllable. Hebrew speakers say it closer to ah-ree-EL-ah; both are current in the US, and the first syllable rhyming with 'air' is also widely heard.
Nicknames for Ariella
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 20201,802 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #154reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- +12.1%1,756 in 2025, from 1,566
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.
Ariella in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אריאלה (Ariela) in Hebrew — transliteration
- Arielle in French — related form
- Ariela in Spanish — spelling variant
- Ariella in Italian — same name
- Ariela in Polish — spelling variant
- Ariel in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Ariellas among us
people named Ariella are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 915 born in 2025 was named Ariella
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ariella
- #174
- Ariella on the 2025 chart
- #161
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ariella went to 1,756 girls in 2025, but Ariela, Aryella and Ariellah are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,976, which makes it the 161st most-given girls’ name of the year — 13 places above the chart.
- Ariella1,756
- Ariela177
- Aryella24
- Ariellah11
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 813 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 915 for Ariella 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 Kirsten test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ariella's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kirsten climbed just as high around 1991, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kirsten's path sketches the road Ariella is walking now.
Ariella 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 Ariella is headed
Ariella 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.
Ariella beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ariella in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two ready-made short forms, Ari and Ella, both already familiar to English speakers and neither needing explanation.
- A documented line back to the Hebrew Bible, which few modern-sounding girls' names can claim.
- Works across Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, French and English with only small changes to spelling or stress.
- Sounds at home beside Isabella, Gabriella and Stella while being far less often given.
- Spelled the way it sounds for most American readers, once the stress is heard.
- Ariella, Ariela, Arielle and Ariel all circulate, so she will likely spell it out for people who have heard the sound but not seen the page. The double-L version is the most common in the US, which helps.
- For many people Ariel means the Disney mermaid first, and Ariella sits close enough to catch some of that. It fades as a child grows, but it will come up early.
- Ari is the short form most likely to stick, and it is used for boys too — worth knowing if you would rather the full name stayed in daily use.
- Its rise is recent enough that it reads as a young name; there are few grown Ariellas around to make it feel established.
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Ariella
Feminine · Hebrew roots · #174 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ariellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,000 people named Ariella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ariella?
- Ariella is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,756 of the 1,976 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ariela, Aryella and Ariellah.
- How popular is the name Ariella in 2025?
- Ariella ranks #174 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,756 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ariella?
- About 1 in every 915 US girls born in 2025 was named Ariella — 1,756 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ariella with classmates?
- Ariella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ariella
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Callie#175 · Ruth#173 · Vivienne#172 · Freya#176 · Isabel#176 · Rosalie#171 · Gemma#170 · Daphne#178
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ariella? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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