Jezebel
Feminine · “Phoenician”
The Hebrew Bible may be calling her a name she never had. Jezebel's name as it is vocalized in the text can be read as containing the word for dung, and many scholars think the pointing is a deliberate insult applied to a Phoenician princess whose real name was something else.
How old is the name Jezebel?
Jezebel first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Jezebel alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 800 people named Jezebel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jezebel most popular?
Jezebel peaked in 2007, reaching #3482 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 6,625 places below that high. See the whole 2007 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Izevel to Jezebel
The story of Jezebel
Jezebel was a Tyrian princess married to Ahab of Israel in a political alliance, and she brought her gods with her, which is why the books of Kings treat her as the enemy of Elijah and of the whole prophetic tradition. Her name in the text is Izevel, and Hebrew names of Phoenician origin are often written with vowels supplied centuries later by scribes who had views. The proposal that those vowels were chosen to embed an insult is old, widely discussed and not provable. Either way the name became a common noun in English, applied to a woman judged shameless, which is a fate the text prepared for it. Its small modern revival is a piece of deliberate reclamation, of the kind that has also brought back Delilah and Lilith.
Meaningscholars disagree
Phoenician, possibly where is the prince
Izevel is generally analyzed as a Phoenician name, perhaps containing a ritual cry meaning where is the prince, addressed to Baal. The vowels supplied by the Masoretic tradition may have been altered to suggest zevel, dung, as a polemical distortion. Nothing here is settled. The American peak is 2007.
How the name formed
- Izevel
- Iezabel
- Jezebel
Related forms: Izevel · Jezabel · Jezabel
Pronouncing Jezebel
JEZ-uh-bel
Three syllables, stress on the first. The Hebrew Izevel has the stress at the end and no j sound.
Nicknames for Jezebel
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
- 1980
- Most girls named
- 200747 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3482reached in 2007
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%9 in 2025, from 6
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.
Jezebel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Izevel in Hebrew — same name
- Jezabel in Spanish — same name
- Jezabel in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Jezebels among us
people named Jezebel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Jezebel
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 Sharlette test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jezebel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sharlette climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sharlette's path sketches the road Jezebel is walking now.
Jezebel 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
Jezebel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jezebel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Jez and Belle are two short forms in very different registers.
- The figure behind it is historically documented as well as biblical.
- Three syllables with a firm opening beat.
- The English common noun is hostile and still current.
- The name's original form and meaning are both uncertain.
- Its use is deliberate reclamation, which not everyone will read that way.
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What they receive
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Jezebel
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jezebels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Jezebel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jezebel in 2025?
- Jezebel ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jezebel?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Jezebel — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jezebel with classmates?
- Jezebel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jezebel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jezebel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jezebel 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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