Lael
Masculine · “belonging to God”
Lael is given to both — 1,166 boys and 2,360 girls since 1880. See Lael as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Lael comes out of a single verse of the Hebrew Bible — one man, named once, in the wilderness census of the Levites — and somehow that one mention was enough to carry the name into Greek, into Latin, and eventually into English. Four letters, two soft syllables, no hard consonant anywhere in it. It has been used by American families in small numbers for generations, and it is currently gaining rather than fading.
How old is the name Lael?
Lael first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Lael is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,100 people named Lael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lael most popular?
Lael peaked in 2025, reaching #1263 nationally. Today it ranks #1263, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Where it comes from
From לָאֵל (Laʾel) to Lael
The story of Lael
Lael appears in the Book of Numbers as the father of Eliasaph, chief of the Gershonite branch of the Levites during Israel's years in the wilderness. He is named once and never again, which makes Lael one of the shortest biographies in scripture and one of its more durable names. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote it Λαήλ, the Latin Vulgate kept it as Lael, and English Bibles carried the spelling forward unchanged — a rare case where a name crossed three languages without losing a letter. English-speaking families began drawing it out of the text as a given name, and it has stayed in quiet use ever since.
Meaning
belonging to God
From Hebrew: the preposition le- ("to, for, belonging to") joined to El ("God"). Often rendered as "of God" or "devoted to God" — the same reading in different English clothing.
How the name formed
- לָאֵלLaʾel
- ΛαήλLael
- Lael
Related forms: לָאֵל · Λαήλ · Lael · Lael
Pronouncing Lael
LAY-el
Two syllables, stress on the first, is the usual American reading. Some say it as one syllable rhyming with "pale", and in Hebrew the stress falls on the second part: la-EL. Any of these will be offered back to you, so it helps to have a preferred version ready.
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
- 1922
- Most boys named
- 2025156 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1263reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +26.8%156 in 2025, from 123
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.
Lael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- לָאֵל in Hebrew — same name
- Λαήλ in Greek (Septuagint) — transliteration
- Lael in Spanish — same name
- Lael in Portuguese — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Laels among us
people named Lael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,949 born in 2025 was named Lael
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 Amani test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Amani climbed just as high around 2008, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Amani's path sketches the road Lael is walking now.
Lael is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Lael is headed
Lael is on a steep climb — if the curve holds, 2030 could see around 63% more babies given the name than today. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Lael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, easy to write, and short enough that a child can manage it early — no long form to grow into.
- A documented biblical name with an unbroken written record across Hebrew, Greek, Latin and English, spelled the same way throughout.
- Recognizable in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking families as well, with no respelling needed.
- Rare enough that a Lael is unlikely to share the name with a classmate, but not invented — it has a source anyone can look up.
- The pronunciation is genuinely unsettled in English. LAY-el is most common, but you should expect to correct people toward whichever version you choose, more or less for life.
- It gets misheard as Lyle, Layla or Leal, and misspelled accordingly. Saying the letters is usually faster than saying the name.
- Lael is given to both boys and girls in the United States, with boys the larger share. Neither reading will surprise anyone, but a Lael of either sex will occasionally be assumed to be the other.
- Its recent wave is very new, so nearly everyone else carrying the name right now is a child — there is not much of an adult Lael in most people's experience to anchor it.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Lael
Masculine · #1263 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Laels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Lael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lael in 2025?
- Lael ranks #1263 among US boy names in 2025, with 156 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lael?
- About 1 in every 10,949 US boys born in 2025 was named Lael — 156 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lael with classmates?
- Lael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Riot#1263 · Elyas#1263 · Ripley#1263 · Monroe#1260 · Jordy#1260 · Emrys#1260 · Jahseh#1267 · Slater#1267
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lael and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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