Cheskel
Masculine · “God will strengthen”
Cheskel is the Yiddish everyday form of Yechezkel — the prophet English calls Ezekiel, whose name is a statement about where strength comes from.
How old is the name Cheskel?
Cheskel first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Cheskel alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 700 people named Cheskel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cheskel most popular?
Cheskel peaked in 1959, reaching #2663 nationally. Today it ranks #3314, 651 places below that high. See the whole 1959 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yechezkel to Cheskel
The story of Cheskel
Ezekiel prophesied among the exiles in Babylon, and his book is among the strangest and most visual in the Hebrew Bible. The name stayed in continuous Jewish use, and Yiddish reshaped the long Hebrew form into Cheskel and Chatzkel — shorter, softer at the front, and easier in daily speech. Both are standard in Hasidic and other observant communities, and Cheskel is the form most often registered in American records.
Meaning
God will strengthen
From Hebrew Yechezkel, joining a verb meaning to strengthen to the divine element; the prophet's book contains the vision of the wheels and the valley of dry bones.
How the name formed
- Yechezkel
- Cheskel
Related forms: Yechezkel · Ezekiel · Chatzkel
Pronouncing Cheskel
KHESS-kel
Two syllables, first stressed, with a throaty opening consonant that English does not have.
Nicknames for Cheskel
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
- 1958
- Most boys named
- 202338 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2663reached in 1959
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%35 in 2025, from 35
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.
Cheskel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yechezkel in Hebrew — same name
- Ezekiel in English — same name
- Chatzkel in Yiddish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Cheskels among us
people named Cheskel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 48,802 born in 2025 was named Cheskel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cheskel
- #3314
- Cheskel on the 2025 chart
- #888
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cheskel went to 35 boys in 2025, but Chezkel is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 40, which makes it the 888th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,426 places above the chart.
- Cheskel35
- Chezkel5
About 1 boy in 42,702 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 48,802 for Cheskel 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 Felder test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cheskel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Felder climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Felder's path sketches the road Cheskel is walking now.
Cheskel 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 Cheskel is headed
Cheskel 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.
Cheskel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cheskel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning inherited from one of the major prophetic books.
- Chesky is a warm short form already in universal community use.
- It is entirely distinct from any other name in an American classroom.
- The opening consonant does not exist in English and will be flattened to a plain ch or k.
- Ezekiel is the form everyone outside the community knows, and it looks unrelated.
- It is very strongly marked as a community name, which is the intention in the families that use it.
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What they receive
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Cheskel
Masculine · #3314 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cheskels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Cheskel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cheskel?
- Cheskel is the most-used spelling in US records — 35 of the 40 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Chezkel.
- How popular is the name Cheskel in 2025?
- Cheskel ranks #3314 among US boy names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cheskel?
- About 1 in every 48,802 US boys born in 2025 was named Cheskel — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cheskel with classmates?
- Cheskel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cheskel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rainier#3314 · Coulter#3314 · Caio#3314 · Kaydon#3314 · Daksh#3314 · Kree#3314 · Calen#3314 · Mathis#3314
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cheskel? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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