Magdiel
Masculine · “prince of God”
Magdiel is given to both — 608 boys and 26 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Magdiel appears once in the Hebrew Bible, in a list of Edomite chiefs at the end of Genesis, and then nowhere else. Spanish-speaking Protestant families have kept it in use while English-speaking ones let it go, which is the ordinary fate of the minor Genesis names. Its American peak is 2001.
How old is the name Magdiel?
Magdiel first appears in US birth records in 1974 — 51 years ago. The typical Magdiel alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 600 people named Magdiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Magdiel most popular?
Magdiel peaked in 2001, reaching #3228 nationally. Today it ranks #6143, 2,915 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Magdiel to Magdiel
The story of Magdiel
Genesis 36 lists the chiefs of Edom, descendants of Esau, and Magdiel is the tenth of eleven. He has no story; he is a name in a list. That did not prevent the name entering use, because the practice of Protestant naming from the seventeenth century onward was to take names from anywhere in scripture, story or no story. English-speaking families did that for two centuries and then stopped; Spanish-speaking Protestants in Latin America began doing it in the twentieth century and continue, which is why Magdiel, Abdiel, Jaasiel and Otoniel are far more common in Guatemala and Honduras than anywhere in the English-speaking world.
Meaningscholars disagree
prince of God; or God is my chosen greatness
Hebrew Magdiel ends in el, 'God', which is certain. The first element is read either from megged, 'excellence, choice thing', giving something like 'God's choice fruit', or from a root connected to greatness and towers — the same migdal that gives Magdala and Magdalene. Both are proposed and neither is decisive. The el is the only settled part.
How the name formed
- Magdiel
- Magdiel
Related forms: Magdiel · Magdiel · Magdiel
Pronouncing Magdiel
mag-dee-EL
Three syllables, stress at the end, with every vowel sounded in Spanish. English speakers say MAG-dee-el with front stress. Both are heard on American bearers.
Nicknames for Magdiel
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
- 1974
- Most boys named
- 200528 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3228reached in 2001
- Change vs 2024
- −39.1%14 in 2025, from 23
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.
Magdiel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Magdiel in Spanish — same name
- Magdiel in Hebrew — same name
- Magdiel in Portuguese — same name
Magdiels among us
people named Magdiel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 122,005 born in 2025 was named Magdiel
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 Naser test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Magdiel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Naser climbed just as high around 1983, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Naser's path sketches the road Magdiel is walking now.
Magdiel 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
Magdiel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Magdiel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The -el ending places it among a large and familiar family of biblical names.
- It is genuinely rare, so a bearer will not share it.
- It has a documented scriptural source, however minor.
- The first element of the Hebrew name is genuinely contested.
- Two stress patterns circulate depending on the language of the reader.
- It is rare enough in the United States to be spelled out every time.
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What they receive
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Magdiel
Masculine · #6143 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Magdiels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Magdiel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Magdiel in 2025?
- Magdiel ranks #6143 among US boy names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Magdiel?
- About 1 in every 122,005 US boys born in 2025 was named Magdiel — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Magdiel with classmates?
- Magdiel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Magdiel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ruel#6143 · Cornell#6143 · Vasco#6143 · Kemper#6143 · Yates#6143 · Roark#6143 · Raja#6143 · Orville#6143
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Magdiel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Magdiel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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