Gabriel
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “God is my strength”
Gabriel is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 395,778 boys against 6,849 girls since 1880. See Gabriel as a girl name
Gabriel is the name of the archangel who speaks in the Book of Daniel, announces the birth of John and of Jesus in Luke, and is known in Islam as Jibril, the angel of revelation. It has been written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and it survives almost unchanged in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese — three syllables that fall the same way in each. Few names have been carried in so many languages with so little damage.
How old is the name Gabriel?
Gabriel was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Gabriel alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 379,000 people named Gabriel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gabriel most popular?
Gabriel peaked in 2010, reaching #21 nationally. Today it ranks #37, 16 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Gabriel appears on these lists:
- America's top 100 names right now
- The steadiest names in America
- Generation Z names (born 1997–2012)
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- Three-syllable names with room to move
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- all guides
Works in Spanish & Latino families too:
Where it comes from
From Gavri'el (Hebrew) to Gabriel
The story of Gabriel
The name is Hebrew, first attested in the Book of Daniel, where Gabriel is the figure who explains visions. The Greek translators of the Hebrew scriptures wrote it Gabriēl, Latin kept that spelling, and from Latin it spread through the whole Christian world; the Qur'an gives the same angel as Jibril. Medieval Europe used it steadily, and it became especially well rooted in Spain, Portugal, France and Eastern Europe. It traveled to the Americas with all of those languages at once, which is part of why it now reads as equally at home in English, Spanish and French.
Meaning
God is my strength
From Hebrew Gavri'el, joining gever, 'strong man,' with El, 'God.' Some translators render it 'man of God' rather than 'God is my strength'; both work from the same two elements.
Cultural footprint
Gabriel García Márquez (b. 1927) — Nobel laureate who wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel Fauré (b. 1845) — Composer of the beloved Requiem
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Gavri'elHebrew
- GabriēlGreek
- GabrielLatin
- Gabriel
Related forms: Gabriel · Gabriel · Gabriele · Gavriil · Jibril · Gavriel
Pronouncing Gabriel
GAY-bree-ul
That is the usual English pronunciation. Spanish speakers say gah-bree-EL with the stress at the end, and French gah-bree-EL as well; a bilingual household can use both without either being wrong.
Nicknames for Gabriel
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 200712,911 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #21reached in 2010
- Change vs 2022
- −9.5%6,569 in 2025, from 7,257
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.
Gabriel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gabriel in Spanish — same name
- Gabriel in French — same name
- Gabriele in Italian — related form
- Gavriil in Russian — transliteration
- Jibril in Arabic — related form
- Gavriel in Hebrew — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE, Statistics Canada, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Gabriels among us
people named Gabriel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 260 born in 2025 was named Gabriel
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 Gregory test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gabriel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gregory climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gregory's path sketches the road Gabriel is walking now.
Gabriel 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 Gabriel is headed
Gabriel should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Gabriel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gabriel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Pronounced and spelled recognizably in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese — one of the few names that needs no adjustment crossing those languages.
- A documented record stretching from the Hebrew scriptures through Greek and Latin to the present, with the spelling essentially intact.
- Established short forms in several languages: Gabe in English, Gabi and Gabo in Spanish, Gabri in Italian.
- Familiar to nearly everyone without being a name most people meet often, and steadily used rather than tied to one fashion moment.
- Strongly represented in California, Texas and Florida, and charting at the same time in France, Canada, and England and Wales.
- Gabi and Gabby are shared with Gabriella and Gabrielle, so a Gabriel who goes by Gabi will sometimes be assumed to be a girl on paper.
- English and Spanish stress it differently — GAY-bree-ul against gah-bree-EL — so a child in a bilingual setting will answer to two versions of their own name.
- The angelic association is close to the surface for many people, which some families want and others would rather not carry.
- Misspellings like Gabrial and Gabrielle turn up occasionally, though the correct spelling is well enough known that corrections are quick.
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What they receive
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Gabriel
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #37 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Gabriels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 379,000 people named Gabriel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gabriel in 2025?
- Gabriel ranks #37 among US boy names in 2025, with 6,569 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Gabriel?
- About 1 in every 260 US boys born in 2025 was named Gabriel — 6,569 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gabriel with classmates?
- Gabriel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gabriel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Wyatt#38 · Jackson#36 · Mason#39 · David#35 · Thomas#34 · Bennett#40 · Luke#33 · Dylan#41
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gabriel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gabriel 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; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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