Arabel
A feminine name of uncertain origin, perhaps combining elements meaning "prayer" and "noble".
Name Census estimates that about 156 living Americans carry the first name Arabel. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Arabel today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Arabel births was 2015 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Arabel. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Arabel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
156
~ 1 in 2,197,143 Americans
Peak year
2015
16 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,596
Tracked since 1915
Census
Arabel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 237 people with the first name Arabel, which placed it at #34,427 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
#34,427
National first-name rank
People counted
237
237 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
59.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Arabel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arabel is Hispanic at 59.9%. The next largest groups are White (29.1%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Arabel 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 Arabel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino59.9% · 142
- White29.1% · 69
- Two or more races5.5% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 9
- Black or African American1.7% · 4
Popularity
Arabel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Arabel from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 97 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Arabel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Arabel 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 Arabel 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 Arabel
The name Arabel originated from the Old French language and dates back to the Middle Ages. It is a combination of the Germanic elements "ari," meaning "eagle," and "bald," meaning "bold" or "brave." Arabel was initially used as a feminine form of the masculine name Arimbald or Aribald.
During the 12th and 13th centuries, the name Arabel gained popularity among the French nobility. It was often bestowed upon daughters from aristocratic families, reflecting their noble lineage and the admirable qualities associated with the name's meaning.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Arabel can be found in the 12th-century French epic poem "Le Roman de la Rose" (The Romance of the Rose), where a character bears this name. This literary reference suggests that the name was in use during the High Middle Ages.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Arabel. One of the earliest recorded examples is Arabel de Lairière (c. 1170 - c. 1240), a French noblewoman and heiress from the Champagne region. Another prominent figure was Arabel de Semur (c. 1210 - c. 1280), a French countess and the wife of Count Robert IV of Auvergne.
In the 14th century, Arabel de Baux (c. 1320 - c. 1390) was a French noblewoman and the Countess of Avellino in the Kingdom of Naples. During the same period, Arabel de Mauléon (c. 1330 - c. 1400) was a French noblewoman and the Lady of Mauléon in Gascony.
In more recent times, Arabel Lebrusan (1856 - 1928) was a Spanish writer and educator who advocated for women's rights and education. She was a notable figure in the feminist movement in Spain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
While the name Arabel has its origins in Old French and was prominent among the European nobility during the Middle Ages, it has since spread to other parts of the world and continues to be used, albeit less commonly, in various cultures and languages.
People
Arabel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Arabel 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
Arabel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Arabel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Arabel 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 2,197,143 US residents.
Is Arabel a common name?
We classify Arabel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 167 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Arabel most popular?
The single biggest year for Arabel was 2015, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Arabel is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Arabel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 237 people with the name Arabel, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,427 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 Arabel 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 Arabel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Arabel leans strongly female. 209 people counted with this name were female (86.7%), compared with 32 male bearers (13.3%). 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 Arabel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Arabel is Hispanic at 59.9%. The next largest groups are White (29.1%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Arabel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Arabel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.9% (142 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 Arabel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Arabel a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Arabel 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 Arabel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Arabel 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 Arabel 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 people have the name Arabel?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Arabel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.