Aviel
Masculine · “God is my father”
Aviel is given to both — 1,365 boys and 59 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Aviel is the Hebrew name behind the biblical Abiel — three syllables that carry a full sentence: God is my father. It has been read aloud in synagogues and churches for millennia in its older spelling, and returned in modern Hebrew with the softer v, the way Avraham became Avi in daily speech. In American records it is a recent arrival still gathering pace.
How old is the name Aviel?
Aviel first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Aviel is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,400 people named Aviel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Aviel most popular?
Aviel peaked in 2025, reaching #1393 nationally. Today it ranks #1393, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Aviel appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Avi'el to Aviel
The story of Aviel
The name belongs to the oldest layer of Hebrew naming, built from two everyday words joined into a statement of faith. It appears in the Hebrew Bible as Avi'el, borne by the grandfather of Saul in the book of Samuel and by one of David's warriors in Chronicles; Greek and Latin translators rendered it Abiel, and that is the form English Bibles kept. Modern Hebrew pronounces the second letter as a v, so Israeli bearers today are Aviel rather than Abiel, and the spelling traveled to the United States with Hebrew-speaking and Jewish families. Its American strongholds — New York, California, Texas — trace those communities fairly closely.
Meaning
God is my father
From Hebrew avi ("my father") plus el ("God") — the same el that closes Michael, Daniel and Gabriel.
How the name formed
- Avi'el
- Abiel
- Aviel
Related forms: אֲבִיאֵל · Abiel · Aviela · Abiel
Pronouncing Aviel
ah-vee-EL
Hebrew puts the weight on the last syllable. Many American speakers shift it forward to AH-vee-el, and both are widely heard; either is easy to teach once.
Nicknames for Aviel
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
- 1979
- Most boys named
- 2025131 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1393reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +24.8%131 in 2025, from 105
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.
Aviel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אֲבִיאֵל in Hebrew — same name
- Abiel in English (biblical) — same name
- Aviela in Hebrew (feminine) — related form
- Abiel in Spanish — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Texas.
Aviels among us
people named Aviel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,039 born in 2025 was named Aviel
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 Dameion test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Aviel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dameion climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dameion's path sketches the road Aviel is walking now.
Aviel is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Aviel is headed
Aviel looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% 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.
Aviel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Aviel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent and needs no explaining twice — the -el ending is already familiar from Michael, Daniel and Gabriel.
- Spelled exactly as it sounds in English letters, with no silent letters or doubled consonants to negotiate.
- Avi is a ready-made short form with centuries of use behind it, and works as a full name on forms and in adulthood.
- Documented in Hebrew scripture and in continuous use in modern Israel, so it is recognizable across languages and communities.
- Ariel sits one letter away and is far better known in the US, where it reads female to many people. Expect Aviel to be misheard and autocorrected in that direction fairly often.
- Abiel, Avial and Avielle are all likely misspellings when the name is given over the phone. Most bearers settle into a quick "Aviel, A-V-I-E-L" and think little of it.
- This is a name a child will almost certainly not share with a classmate. That is a pleasure for some children and a small daily effort for others, and there is no way to know in advance which.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Aviel
Masculine · #1393 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Aviels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Aviel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Aviel in 2025?
- Aviel ranks #1393 among US boy names in 2025, with 131 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Aviel?
- About 1 in every 13,039 US boys born in 2025 was named Aviel — 131 in all.
- Will my child share the name Aviel with classmates?
- Aviel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Aviel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sakai#1393 · Scotty#1393 · Cam#1393 · Jules#1393 · Scout#1393 · Marley#1393 · Aariv#1393 · Amar#1388
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Aviel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Aviel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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