Castiel
Masculine · “The ending -el is Hebrew for "God”
Castiel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,891 boys against 33 girls since 1880.
Castiel belongs to the family of names built on the Hebrew element -el, "God" — the same ending carried by Gabriel, Nathaniel and Uriel. Its older form, Cassiel, appears in medieval lists of angels compiled by Jewish and Christian writers, where it was attached to the planet Saturn. In the mouth it moves gently, three syllables that land on a soft final -el, and it comes with a short form, Cas, already in use.
How old is the name Castiel?
Castiel first appears in US birth records in 2009 — 16 years ago. The typical Castiel is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,900 people named Castiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Castiel most popular?
Castiel peaked in 2019, reaching #723 nationally. Today it ranks #1008, 285 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Castiel appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Cassiel to Castiel
The story of Castiel
The name reaches English through angelology rather than through scripture: Cassiel is one of the angel names cataloged in medieval Jewish and Christian esoteric writing, and later copied through Renaissance magical and occult texts, where it is repeatedly linked with Saturn. That version stayed a bookish curiosity for centuries and was almost never given to children. The spelling Castiel arrived as the name of an angel character on the American television series Supernatural in the late 2000s, and American parents began registering it for their sons almost immediately afterward. Its use has stayed level since — a name that entered through a story and then settled in on its own.
Meaningscholars disagree
The ending -el is Hebrew for "God"; the first element is not settled
The -el is firm — it is the same divine element found in Michael, Daniel and Gabriel. For the first part, angelological and popular sources offer competing glosses for Cassiel, most often "cover of God" or "shelter of God" and, separately, "speed of God". Neither reading has been established over the other, and the older Hebrew form behind the name is itself transmitted in several spellings.
How the name formed
- Cassiel
- Castiel
Related forms: Cassiel · Casiel
Pronouncing Castiel
KASS-tee-el
Three syllables with the stress up front. Some speakers even it out to kass-tee-EL. A first meeting can also produce "kas-TEEL," by analogy with the Spanish region Castile, so expect to say it once and be understood after that.
Nicknames for Castiel
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
- 2009
- Most boys named
- 2019337 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #723reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- −26.8%224 in 2025, from 306
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.
Castiel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cassiel in English (angelological tradition) — spelling variant
- Casiel in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Castiels among us
people named Castiel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 7,625 born in 2025 was named Castiel
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 Durrell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Castiel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Durrell climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Durrell's path sketches the road Castiel is walking now.
Castiel 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 Castiel is headed
Castiel 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.
Castiel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Castiel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Sits inside a pattern American ears already know: the -el ending shared with Gabriel, Nathaniel, Uriel and Daniel makes it readable on sight.
- Comes with a ready-made short form, Cas, plus Cass, both already in independent use.
- Spelled the way it sounds for most readers, with no silent letters or doubled consonants to explain.
- Its use has held level rather than spiking and dropping, so it has not been tied to a single fashionable moment.
- Rare enough that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate, while still sounding like a name rather than an invention.
- The spelling comes from one television character, and the show has a large, devoted following. Many people will make the connection instantly and mention it — sometimes fondly, sometimes every time.
- There are almost no adult Castiels yet. For now the name reads as a young child's name, and your son may be among the first to carry it into a workplace.
- Expect a fork between Castiel and the older Cassiel, and the occasional "kas-TEEL" on a first reading. Neither is hard to correct, but you will do it more than once.
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What they receive
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Castiel
Masculine · #1008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Castiels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Castiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Castiel in 2025?
- Castiel ranks #1008 among US boy names in 2025, with 224 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Castiel?
- About 1 in every 7,625 US boys born in 2025 was named Castiel — 224 in all.
- Will my child share the name Castiel with classmates?
- Castiel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Castiel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aden#1008 · Rayyan#1008 · Watson#1008 · Arden#1005 · Noa#1005 · Yeshua#1005 · Allan#1012 · Alfonso#1012
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Castiel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Castiel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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