Axl
Masculine · “Father of peace”
Axl is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 4,408 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Behind the stripped-down spelling sits one of the oldest names in the book: Axel, the Scandinavian form of Absalom, carried by Danish and Swedish families since the Middle Ages. Say it aloud and nothing is lost — two syllables, a hard consonant cluster in the middle, an ending that stops clean. The vowels are simply gone from the page, not from the mouth.
How old is the name Axl?
Axl first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Axl is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,400 people named Axl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Axl most popular?
Axl peaked in 2019, reaching #677 nationally. Today it ranks #1123, 446 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Axl appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Avshalom to Axl
The story of Axl
The Hebrew Avshalom came into Latin and Greek scripture as Absalom, and medieval Denmark reshaped it as Absalon — the name of the twelfth-century archbishop of Lund who founded Copenhagen. From Absalon, Danish and Swedish speakers wore the name down to Axel, which has been steadily used across Scandinavia ever since and spread into German, Dutch and French use. The vowel-less spelling Axl is American and modern, made famous worldwide by Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose, and it is that version that gave the old Nordic name a second life in the United States. Texas, California and Florida carry it most strongly today.
Meaning
Father of peace
Through Axel, from the Hebrew Avshalom (av, father; shalom, peace), the name of a son of King David in the Hebrew Bible.
How the name formed
- Avshalom
- Absalom
- Absalon
- Axel
- Axl
Related forms: Axel · Aksel · Akseli · Axel · Áxel · Avshalom
Pronouncing Axl
AK-sul
Identical to Axel — the missing vowels change the look, not the sound. Stress falls on the first syllable.
Nicknames for Axl
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
- 1988
- Most boys named
- 2019379 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #677reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- −12.8%190 in 2025, from 218
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.
Axl in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Axel in Swedish — same name
- Aksel in Norwegian — spelling variant
- Akseli in Finnish — related form
- Axel in French — same name
- Áxel in Spanish — spelling variant
- Avshalom in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Axls among us
people named Axl are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 8,990 born in 2025 was named Axl
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 Javonte test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Axl's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Javonte climbed just as high around 1993, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Javonte's path sketches the road Axl is walking now.
Axl 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 Axl is headed
Axl is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Axl beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Axl in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, two syllables, and phonetically obvious to English speakers once seen; no one has to be taught how to say it.
- Rests on Axel, a name in continuous documented use in Scandinavia since the Middle Ages, so the sound is old even where the spelling is new.
- Travels well: Axel, Aksel, Akseli and Áxel are all recognized across northern Europe and Latin America.
- A child with this name is very unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- Expect a lifetime of gentle corrections. Most people who hear it will write Axel, and forms, teachers and coffee cups will default to the vowel version.
- The spelling is closely tied to one rock singer, and adults who grew up with that music will make the connection immediately. Whether that is a pleasure or a shrug depends on the room.
- Its American wave is recent and now easing back a little, so it reads as a name of this era rather than a family standby — which also means few older namesakes to explain it.
- The consonant run of x-l looks like a typo to some systems and readers; occasionally it will be autocorrected.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Axl
Masculine · #1123 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Axls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,400 people named Axl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Axl in 2025?
- Axl ranks #1123 among US boy names in 2025, with 190 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Axl?
- About 1 in every 8,990 US boys born in 2025 was named Axl — 190 in all.
- Will my child share the name Axl with classmates?
- Axl will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Axl
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Duncan#1123 · Landyn#1123 · Kartier#1123 · Yazan#1123 · Makoa#1118 · Rylo#1118 · Lucius#1128 · Santi#1118
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Axl? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Axl 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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