Jael
Masculine · Hebrew roots · “ibex”
Jael is given to both — 3,387 boys and 4,561 girls since 1880. See Jael as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Jael belongs to one of the oldest poems in the Hebrew Bible — the Song of Deborah in Judges, where the name is sung rather than merely listed. It came into English through the Greek and Latin translations of scripture, keeping its four letters and losing only its original Hebrew sound. Today the same spelling is read in Hebrew, Spanish and English mouths, each with its own music.
How old is the name Jael?
Jael first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Jael is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,400 people named Jael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jael most popular?
Jael peaked in 2012, reaching #983 nationally. Today it ranks #1315, 332 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ya'el (Hebrew) to Jael
The story of Jael
The name is Hebrew, and it appears in the Book of Judges: Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, who kills the enemy commander Sisera in her tent and is praised for it in the Song of Deborah, one of the oldest passages in the Hebrew Bible. Greek and Latin translators rendered the initial Hebrew yod with an I, later written J, which is how English Bibles arrived at the spelling Jael while Hebrew kept Yael. In Israel, Yael became one of the standard women's names of the modern era. In Spanish-speaking countries the spelling Jael travels a second road, where it is given to boys as well — which is why in US records it lands close to evenly on both sides.
Meaning
ibex, mountain goat
The Hebrew יָעֵל (ya'el) is the wild goat of the cliffs and high desert of the Levant — the animal, used as a personal name.
How the name formed
- Ya'elHebrew
- IahelGreek and Latin scripture
- JaelEnglish Bibles
- Yaelmodern Hebrew
Related forms: Yael · Yael · Jaël · Jael · Jael · Iaele
Pronouncing Jael
jay-EL
Also said JAY-el in English. Hebrew speakers say yah-EL, and Spanish speakers often ha-EL or yah-EL. All are the same name; a family usually picks one and repeats it.
Nicknames for Jael
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
- 1979
- Most boys named
- 2012203 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #983reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- +6.5%147 in 2025, from 138
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.
Jael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yael in Hebrew — transliteration
- Yael in Spanish — spelling variant
- Jaël in French — spelling variant
- Jael in Portuguese — same name
- Jael in German — same name
- Iaele in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, New York, California.
Jaels among us
people named Jael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 11,620 born in 2025 was named Jael
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 Darl test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darl climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darl's path sketches the road Jael is walking now.
Jael 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 Jael is headed
Jael 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.
Jael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, no silent parts, and already familiar in print from English Bibles since the sixteenth century.
- Works in Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, French and English without being translated or respelled.
- A documented meaning, plain and concrete: the mountain goat of the Levantine cliffs.
- Rare in classrooms while never sounding invented — a child will likely be the only one, but not the first.
- The pronunciation genuinely varies — jay-EL, JAY-el, yah-EL, ha-EL — and a family will be correcting or choosing between them fairly often, especially across English- and Spanish-speaking relatives.
- Because the spelling reaches boys and girls in nearly equal numbers, forms, teachers and strangers will guess, and sometimes guess wrong. Worth expecting rather than dreading.
- The biblical Jael is celebrated for killing a man with a tent peg. Most people will not know the detail, but anyone who reads Judges will meet it.
- Expect stray confusion with Jaelyn, Jayla and Yael in spelling and in search boxes.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Jael
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #1315 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jaels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,400 people named Jael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jael in 2025?
- Jael ranks #1315 among US boy names in 2025, with 147 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jael?
- About 1 in every 11,620 US boys born in 2025 was named Jael — 147 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jael with classmates?
- Jael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Willie#1315 · Townes#1315 · Aydin#1315 · Jream#1315 · Danilo#1315 · Saif#1315 · Nikko#1315 · Rustyn#1310
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jael and another name?
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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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