Auriel
A feminine name of Hebrew origin signifying the golden light of dawn.
Name Census estimates that about 931 living Americans carry the first name Auriel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 89.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Auriel today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Auriel births was 1991 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Auriel. 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 Auriel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
931
~ 1 in 368,157 Americans
Peak year
1991
57 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,644
Tracked since 1979
Census
Auriel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 798 people with the first name Auriel, which placed it at #14,688 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
#14,688
National first-name rank
People counted
798
798 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Auriel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Auriel is Black at 48.4%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Hispanic (20.3%). 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 Auriel 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 Auriel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.4% · 386
- White22.1% · 176
- Hispanic or Latino20.3% · 162
- Two or more races5.9% · 47
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Auriel
Auriel leans heavily female at 89.7% of total registrations, but 98 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Auriel as a male name
- Ranked #9,979 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (12 births)
Auriel as a female name
- Ranked #6,644 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (57 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Auriel leans strongly female. 657 people counted with this name were female (81.9%), compared with 145 male bearers (18.1%).
Popularity
Auriel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Auriel from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 283 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Auriel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Auriel 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 Auriel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Auriels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. North Carolina, California, Alabama recorded the most babies named Auriel, while Pennsylvania, Illinois, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Auriel
The name Auriel is believed to have its origins in Hebrew and Latin languages. In Hebrew, the name is derived from the word "or" meaning light and "el" meaning God, thus translating to "light of God". In Latin, it is a combination of the words "aurum" meaning gold and "iel" meaning God, giving the meaning "golden light of God".
The name Auriel can be traced back to ancient texts and religious scriptures. It is mentioned in the Kabbalah, a Jewish mystical tradition, as the name of an archangel. In the Christian tradition, it is associated with one of the seven archangels, often representing the light of God or the morning star.
The earliest recorded use of the name Auriel dates back to the 12th century. One notable figure was Auriel de Cologne, a 13th-century German nun and mystic known for her visions and writings. Another early bearer of the name was Auriel de Vere, an English noblewoman from the 14th century.
Throughout history, the name Auriel has been borne by several notable individuals. These include Auriel Tsouvaltsidis (1920-2012), a Greek painter and sculptor; Auriel Andrew (1938-2019), a British writer and translator; and Auriel Majnoni (born 1968), an Iranian-American artist and filmmaker.
The name Auriel has also been used in literature and popular culture. In John Milton's epic poem "Paradise Lost," Auriel is mentioned as one of the angels who fought against Satan's rebel forces. In the fantasy novel series "The Mortal Instruments" by Cassandra Clare, Auriel is the name of a powerful angel.
Another notable bearer of the name was Auriel Valore (1850-1924), an Italian-American sculptor and artist known for her works depicting religious themes and historical figures. Auriel Rios (1903-1984) was a Puerto Rican singer and actress who performed in various Latin American countries during the mid-20th century.
People
Auriel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Auriel 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
Auriel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Auriel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 931 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Auriel 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 368,157 US residents.
Is Auriel a common name?
We classify Auriel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 954 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Auriel most popular?
The single biggest year for Auriel was 1991, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Auriel is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Auriel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 798 people with the name Auriel, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,688 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 Auriel 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 Auriel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Auriel leans strongly female. 657 people counted with this name were female (81.9%), compared with 145 male bearers (18.1%). 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 Auriel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Auriel is Black at 48.4%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Hispanic (20.3%). 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 Auriel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Auriel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.4% (386 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 Auriel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Auriel a female name?
Yes, 89.7% of people registered as Auriel 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 Auriel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Auriel 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 Auriel 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 share the name Auriel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.