Aariel
Lion of God, derived from Hebrew elements.
Name Census estimates that about 219 living Americans carry the first name Aariel. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Aariel today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Aariel births was 2017 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Aariel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
219
~ 1 in 1,565,088 Americans
Peak year
2017
17 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2021 SSA rank
#9,564
Tracked since 1988
Census
Aariel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 205 people with the first name Aariel, which placed it at #37,817 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#37,817
National first-name rank
People counted
205
205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Aariel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aariel is Black at 57.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.6%) and Hispanic (14.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Aariel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Aariel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.6% · 118
- White15.6% · 32
- Hispanic or Latino14.1% · 29
- Two or more races7.8% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 3
Popularity
Aariel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Aariel from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 94 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Aariel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Aariel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Aariel
The given name Aariel is believed to have its origins in Hebrew and is a variant spelling of the name Ariel. The name Ariel can be traced back to biblical times and is mentioned in several passages in the Old Testament.
In the Book of Isaiah, Ariel is used as a symbolic name for Jerusalem, often interpreted as "lion of God" or "hearth of God." The name is derived from the Hebrew words "ari" meaning lion, and "el" meaning God. It is also thought to be connected to the Hebrew word "arah" which means altar or hearth.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Ariel dates back to the 8th century BCE. One of the first prominent individuals to bear the name was Ariel ben Hatach, a Jewish scribe mentioned in the Book of Ezra during the time of the Babylonian exile.
In the Middle Ages, the name Ariel gained popularity among Jewish communities across Europe. One notable figure was Ariel Toaff, an Italian-Jewish scholar and rabbi who lived in the 15th century.
During the Renaissance period, the name Ariel became associated with literature and the arts. In Shakespeare's play "The Tempest," Ariel is the name of a spirit who serves the sorcerer Prospero. This literary reference helped to popularize the name in English-speaking countries.
Other notable individuals named Ariel or Aariel throughout history include:
1. Aariel Sharon (1928-2014), an Israeli military leader and politician who served as the 11th Prime Minister of Israel.
2. Ariel Durant (1898-1981), an American writer and philosopher, best known for her co-authorship of the 11-volume historical work "The Story of Civilization" with her husband, Will Durant.
3. Ariel Dorfman (born 1942), a Chilean-American novelist, playwright, and essayist, known for works such as "Death and the Maiden" and "Widows."
4. Ariel Scharon (1876-1957), a Russian-born American painter and sculptor, known for her works depicting scenes from Jewish life and culture.
5. Ariel Ramírez (1921-2010), an Argentine composer and pianist, celebrated for his contribution to the folk music genre of the Argentinian Pampas region.
While the name Aariel is a less common variant spelling, it shares the same rich history and cultural significance as its Hebrew counterpart, Ariel.
People
Aariel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Aariel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Aariel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Aariel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 219 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Aariel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,565,088 US residents.
Is Aariel a common name?
We classify Aariel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 223 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Aariel most popular?
The single biggest year for Aariel was 2017, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Aariel is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Aariel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 205 people with the name Aariel, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,817 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Aariel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Aariel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Aariel leans strongly female. 201 people counted with this name were female (94.4%), compared with 12 male bearers (5.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Aariel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Aariel is Black at 57.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.6%) and Hispanic (14.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Aariel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Aariel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.6% (118 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Aariel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Aariel a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Aariel in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Aariel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Aariel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Aariel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Aariel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.