Axel
A masculine Scandinavian name derived from Old Norse meaning "father of peace".
Name Census estimates that about 66,830 living Americans carry the first name Axel. It sits at #78 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Axel today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Axel births was 2020 (4,674 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Clinton (66,583).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Axel. 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 Axel with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Axel is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 201 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Axel is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
67K
~ 1 in 5,129 Americans
Peak year
2020
4,674 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#78
Tracked since 1880
Census
Axel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 43,003 people with the first name Axel, which placed it at #1,003 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
#1,003
National first-name rank
People counted
43K
43,003 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
66.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Axel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Axel is Hispanic at 66.6%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Axel 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 Axel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino66.6% · 28,649
- White28.2% · 12,144
- Two or more races2.4% · 1,021
- Black or African American1.4% · 619
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 364
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 206
Gender
Gender distribution for Axel
Out of the 68,489 babies given the name Axel since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Axel as a male name
- Ranked #78 in 2024
- 4,245 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (4,666 births)
Axel as a female name
- Ranked #11,205 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2017 (18 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Axel appears almost entirely male. Of the 42,999 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Axel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Axel from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 31,891 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Axel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Axel 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 Axel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Axels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Axel, while Vermont, Maine, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,288 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Axel
The name Axel has its origins in the Old Norse language, deriving from the word "Ozurr," which means "ancestor" or "forefather." The name gained popularity during the Viking era, particularly among Scandinavian and Germanic peoples.
One of the earliest known references to the name Axel can be found in the Norse sagas and legends, where it was often associated with warriors and leaders. The name was favored by the Vikings, who prized strength, bravery, and a connection to their ancestral roots.
As the Vikings explored and settled in various parts of Europe, the name Axel spread along with their influence. It underwent several spelling variations, such as "Axl," "Axcel," and "Aksel," but the core meaning remained the same.
In the Middle Ages, the name Axel became more widely used across Europe, particularly in regions with strong Germanic or Scandinavian cultural influences. It was often given to boys born into noble or aristocratic families, reflecting the name's association with lineage and heritage.
Axel I, Count of Holland, who lived from around 1090 to 1130, was one of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name. He played a significant role in the history of the Low Countries and was a prominent figure during the Crusades.
Another notable figure was Axel Oxenstierna (1583-1654), a Swedish statesman and diplomat who served as the Lord High Chancellor of Sweden during the reign of King Gustavus Adolphus. He was a key figure in the Thirty Years' War and is remembered for his skilled diplomacy and political acumen.
In the realm of literature, Axel Heyst was the protagonist of Joseph Conrad's novel "Victory," published in 1915. The character's name was a nod to the author's Polish roots and the name's Scandinavian origins.
Axel Munthe (1857-1949) was a Swedish physician and author best known for his autobiographical work "The Story of San Michele," which recounted his experiences in Italy and his restoration of a villa on the island of Capri.
More recently, Axel Rose (born 1962) gained international fame as the lead vocalist of the iconic rock band Guns N' Roses, with his powerful voice and charismatic stage presence contributing to the band's success in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
While the name Axel has its roots in ancient Norse culture, it has endured through the centuries and continues to be used in various parts of the world, particularly in Scandinavian and Germanic-influenced regions, as a testament to its rich historical heritage.
People
Axel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Axel 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
Axel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Axel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66,830 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Axel 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 5,129 US residents.
Is Axel a common name?
We classify Axel as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 68,489 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Axel most popular?
The single biggest year for Axel was 2020, when 4,674 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Axel 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 Axel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 43,003 people with the name Axel, or 14.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,003 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 Axel 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 Axel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Axel appears almost entirely male. Of the 42,999 people counted with this name, 99.4% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Axel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Axel is Hispanic at 66.6%. The next largest groups are White (28.2%) and Two or More Races (2.4%). 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 Axel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Axel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.6% (28,649 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 Axel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Axel a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Axel 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 Axel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Axel 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 Axel 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 are named Axel?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.