Ezekiel
Masculine · “God strengthens”
Ezekiel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 83,605 boys against 52 girls since 1880.
Ezekiel belongs to one of the great books of the Hebrew Bible — the visions of a priest carried off to Babylon in the sixth century BCE. English speakers picked it up in earnest after the Reformation, when Puritan families went to the Hebrew scriptures for names, and it has been read aloud in English ever since. Four syllables that land on a long, ringing middle: ih-ZEE-kee-ul.
How old is the name Ezekiel?
Ezekiel was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ezekiel is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 81,000 people named Ezekiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ezekiel most popular?
Ezekiel peaked in 2022, reaching #48 nationally. Today it ranks #61, 13 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yeḥezqel to Ezekiel
The story of Ezekiel
The name is Hebrew, borne by the prophet whose book records his visions during the Babylonian exile — the valley of dry bones among them. Greek translators of the Hebrew scriptures rendered it Iezekiēl, and Latin made it Ezechiel, which is how it reached medieval and then early modern Europe. English use grew after the Reformation, in the same wave of scripture-sourced naming that gave us Caleb and Elijah, and it crossed the Atlantic with those families. Its Spanish and Portuguese form, Ezequiel, has stayed in steady use across Latin America and is well known in Spanish-speaking parts of the United States.
Meaning
God strengthens
From Hebrew Yeḥezqel, combining a verb for strength with the divine name El.
How the name formed
- Yeḥezqel
- Iezekiēl
- Ezechiel
- Ezekiel
Related forms: Yehezkel · Ezequiel · Ezequiel · Ezechiele · Ézéchiel · Ezechiel
Pronouncing Ezekiel
ih-ZEE-kee-ul
Stress on the second syllable. Some speakers open with a fuller ee-. The Spanish Ezequiel is said eh-seh-KYEL, with the stress at the end — worth knowing in bilingual families.
Nicknames for Ezekiel
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 20226,053 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #48reached in 2022
- Change vs 2022
- −15.9%5,091 in 2025, from 6,053
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.
Ezekiel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yehezkel in Hebrew — transliteration
- Ezequiel in Spanish — same name
- Ezequiel in Portuguese — same name
- Ezechiele in Italian — same name
- Ézéchiel in French — same name
- Ezechiel in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Ezekiels among us
people named Ezekiel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 336 born in 2025 was named Ezekiel
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 Russell test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ezekiel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Russell climbed just as high around 1904, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Russell's path sketches the road Ezekiel is walking now.
Ezekiel 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 Ezekiel is headed
Ezekiel 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.
Ezekiel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ezekiel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Zeke is a long-established short form, so the name comes with a ready informal version already understood by everyone.
- The spelling is fixed by centuries of English Bibles, which makes it recognizable in writing even to people who have never met one.
- A documented line from Hebrew through Greek and Latin into English, unbroken for well over two thousand years.
- Ezequiel, Ezechiele and Ézéchiel carry it easily into Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French.
- Long familiar in English without being crowded, and represented internationally by athletes and performers.
- It carries a clear scriptural weight — the prophet, the visions, the dry bones. That reference will follow the name, which suits some families and not others.
- Expect Ezequiel as a spelling correction, especially where Spanish is widely spoken, and expect strangers to shorten it to Zeke without asking.
- Four syllables is a lot next to a long surname, and it will be spelled out on the phone more than once.
- The name's rise here is recent, so most bearers are currently children; that will even out as they grow.
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What they receive
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Ezekiel
Masculine · #61 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ezekiels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 81,000 people named Ezekiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ezekiel in 2025?
- Ezekiel ranks #61 among US boy names in 2025, with 5,091 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Ezekiel?
- About 1 in every 336 US boys born in 2025 was named Ezekiel — 5,091 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ezekiel with classmates?
- Ezekiel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ezekiel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Beau#60 · Aiden#62 · Rowan#59 · Nathan#63 · Caleb#58 · Brooks#64 · Nolan#65 · Isaiah#57
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ezekiel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ezekiel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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