Hazle
Feminine · “the hazel tree”
Hazle is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 2,442 girls against 43 boys since 1880.
Swap the last two letters of Hazel and the word disappears. Hazle is said exactly the same way, but a reader no longer sees a tree in it — which matters more than usual, because the whole point of the name is the tree.
How old is the name Hazle?
Hazle first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Hazle alive today was born around 1922, making them about 103 years old. About 300 people named Hazle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Hazle most popular?
Hazle peaked in 1889, reaching #657 nationally. See the whole 1889 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From haesel to Hazle
The story of Hazle
English has very few tree names in use for people — Hazel, Willow, Rowan, Holly and Olive, and after that the list thins out fast — and each of them works because the word is instantly visible. That is what a word name trades on. Reversing two letters costs nothing in sound and everything in recognition: a stranger reading Hazle sees a name and a stranger reading Hazel sees a tree. The record has this spelling from the eighteen-eighties, given to boys as well as girls, which the invisible tree may partly explain.
Meaning
the hazel tree
The Old English haesel names the tree and the nut. The name is the word used unchanged, and only the letter order separates this spelling from it.
How the name formed
- haesel
- Hazel
- Hazle
Pronouncing Hazle
HAY-zul
Two syllables with the weight at the front. Hazel and Hazle are said identically.
Nicknames for Hazle
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
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 192094 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #657reached in 1889
- Change vs 2020
- +20.0%6 in 2022, from 5
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.
Hazles among us
people named Hazle 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
Hazle 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
- It is said correctly by everyone on first hearing.
- The tree behind it is real, common and can be pointed at.
- Five letters, two syllables, and nothing complicated to say.
- Hazel is the standard spelling and will be written instead, every time.
- The reversed letters hide the word the name depends on.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well as girls in the United States.
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Hazle
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Hazles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Hazle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Hazle in 2025?
- Hazle is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Hazle with classmates?
- Hazle will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More H names
The most-given names starting with H, all years combined.
Helen#461 · Heather#1261 · Hannah#56 · Hazel#21 · Holly#416 · Hailey#104 · Haley#861 · Heidi#340
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Hazle? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Hazle and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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