Asiel
An Arabic name meaning "lion" or "brave".
Name Census estimates that about 810 living Americans carry the first name Asiel. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Asiel today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Asiel births was 2023 (67 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Asiel. 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
810
~ 1 in 423,154 Americans
Peak year
2023
67 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,785
Tracked since 1989
Census
Asiel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 709 people with the first name Asiel, which placed it at #16,031 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
#16,031
National first-name rank
People counted
709
709 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
83.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Asiel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asiel is Hispanic at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and White (6.8%). 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 Asiel 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 Asiel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino83.6% · 593
- Black or African American7.9% · 56
- White6.8% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 7
- Two or more races0.7% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Asiel
Out of the 817 babies given the name Asiel since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Asiel as a male name
- Ranked #2,785 in 2024
- 46 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (67 births)
Asiel as a female name
- Ranked #15,195 in 2010
- 6 female births in 2010
- Peak: 2010 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asiel leans strongly male. 664 people counted with this name were male (93.1%), compared with 49 female bearers (6.9%).
Popularity
Asiel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Asiel 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 340 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Asiel 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 Asiel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Asiels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Asiel, while New York, New Jersey, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 49 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Asiel
The name Asiel is believed to be of Hebrew origin, derived from the biblical name Aziel, which means "God is my strength" or "blessed by God." It is a combination of the Hebrew words "az" (strong) and "El" (God).
This name first appeared in the Old Testament, where it was borne by one of the sons of the Levite Shemaiah. The Levites were members of the Hebrew tribe of Levi, who were responsible for various religious duties and ceremonies in ancient Israel.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Asiel can be found in the Book of 1 Chronicles, which dates back to around the 5th century BC. In this text, Asiel is listed as one of the gatekeepers of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Asiel, although the name has remained relatively uncommon. One of the earliest known bearers of this name was Asiel ben Yehouda, a 12th-century Jewish scholar and philosopher from Andalusia, Spain.
In the 16th century, Asiel Diaz was a Portuguese explorer and navigator who accompanied Ferdinand Magellan on his famous voyage around the world. He was born in 1490 and died sometime after 1521.
Another notable Asiel was Asiel ben Solomon, a 17th-century Jewish kabbalist and rabbi from Jerusalem. He was known for his writings on mysticism and Jewish mystical traditions.
In the 19th century, Asiel Abrahams was a British historian and author who specialized in Jewish history and literature. He was born in 1843 and died in 1917.
More recently, Asiel Sandoval was a Venezuelan political activist and human rights advocate who fought against the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez in the 1950s. He was born in 1923 and died in 2006.
People
Asiel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Asiel 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
Asiel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Asiel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 810 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Asiel 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 423,154 US residents.
Is Asiel a common name?
We classify Asiel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 817 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Asiel most popular?
The single biggest year for Asiel was 2023, when 67 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Asiel 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 Asiel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 709 people with the name Asiel, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,031 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 Asiel 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 Asiel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Asiel leans strongly male. 664 people counted with this name were male (93.1%), compared with 49 female bearers (6.9%). 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 Asiel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Asiel is Hispanic at 83.6%. The next largest groups are Black (7.9%) and White (6.8%). 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 Asiel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Asiel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.6% (593 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 Asiel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Asiel a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Asiel in the SSA data are male. 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 Asiel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Asiel 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 Asiel 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 Asiel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.