Haskell
Masculine · “the god's cauldron”
Haskell is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,700 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Haskell is two names that happen to look alike. One is Norse, carried to England by settlers and worn down into a surname; the other is Yiddish, the everyday form of Ezekiel. They met in America, on the same spelling, from opposite ends of Europe.
How old is the name Haskell?
Haskell first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Haskell alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 1,000 people named Haskell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Haskell most popular?
Haskell peaked in 1908, reaching #429 nationally. See the whole 1908 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Asketill to Haskell
The story of Haskell
Asketill was a common Norse name in the Danelaw, and it left England a scattering of surnames — Haskell, Astell, Ashkettle — as the sounds collapsed over the centuries. Quite separately, Ashkenazi families used Haskel as the daily name paired with the Hebrew Yehezkel, and brought it to America in the migrations at the end of the nineteenth century. By then the English surname was already being used as a first name in the American South, in the way that English surnames were. The two streams arrived within a generation of each other and the record cannot tell them apart.
Meaningscholars disagree
the god's cauldron, or God strengthens
The Norse Asketill joins the name of the gods to ketill, a cauldron or sacrificial vessel. The Yiddish Haskel is a form of Yehezkel, Ezekiel, whose Hebrew means God strengthens. Nothing on a modern certificate says which line a Haskell belongs to.
How the name formed
- Asketill
- Haskell
Related forms: Haskel · Yehezkel · Asketill
Pronouncing Haskell
HAS-kul
Two syllables with the weight at the front, the second reduced to a hum. Yiddish gives the ending slightly more value, HAS-kel.
Nicknames for Haskell
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 1919104 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #429reached in 1908
- Change vs 2022
- −20.0%8 in 2024, from 10
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.
Haskell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Haskel in Yiddish — related form
- Yehezkel in Hebrew — related form
- Asketill in Old Norse — related form
Haskells among us
people named Haskell are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Haskell sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Both syllables are ordinary English and the name is read correctly at sight.
- It works as a surname and as a first name, which suits families that use both.
- It carries two entirely separate and well-documented histories, either of which a family can claim honestly.
- There is no way to tell from the name alone which of its two origins is yours.
- The spelling is recorded for girls as well as boys in the United States.
- It reads as a name of the early twentieth century.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Haskell to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Haskell
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Haskells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Haskell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Haskell in 2025?
- Haskell is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Haskell with classmates?
- Haskell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Henry#5 · Harold#991 · Harry#775 · Howard#1002 · Hunter#130 · Herbert#2641 · Herman#2363 · Harvey#251
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Haskell? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Haskell and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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