Ayelet
A feminine Hebrew name meaning "female deer".
Name Census estimates that about 912 living Americans carry the first name Ayelet. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ayelet today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ayelet births was 2023 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ayelet. 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 Ayelet with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
912
~ 1 in 375,827 Americans
Peak year
2023
45 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,027
Tracked since 1971
Census
Ayelet in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 882 people with the first name Ayelet, which placed it at #13,618 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
#13,618
National first-name rank
People counted
882
882 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ayelet
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayelet is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) 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 Ayelet 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 Ayelet at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 767
- Hispanic or Latino8.2% · 72
- Two or more races2.4% · 21
- Black or African American1.4% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Ayelet: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ayelet from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 294 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ayelet remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ayelet 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 Ayelet during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ayelets live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Ayelet, while Maryland, New Jersey, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 89 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ayelet
Ayelet is a Hebrew name derived from the word "ayyal," meaning deer or gazelle. It is a feminine given name that originated in ancient Israel, where gazelles were revered for their grace, swiftness, and beauty. The earliest known reference to the name dates back to the biblical Book of Proverbs, where it is mentioned as a term of endearment.
In ancient Hebrew culture, the name Ayelet was often associated with attributes such as agility, elegance, and purity. It was commonly bestowed upon girls born into families of high social standing or those with a deep connection to nature and the wilderness.
The first recorded instance of the name Ayelet can be traced back to the 10th century BCE, when it was mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls as the name of a young woman from the tribe of Judah. This ancient manuscript provides one of the earliest known examples of the name's usage.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have carried the name Ayelet. One of the most famous was Ayelet Shaked (born in 1976), an Israeli politician who served as the Minister of Justice from 2015 to 2019. Another prominent bearer of the name was Ayelet Zurer (born in 1969), an Israeli actress known for her roles in films such as "Munich" and "Man of Steel."
In the world of literature, the name Ayelet gained prominence through the works of Israeli author Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888-1970), who frequently used it in his writings to symbolize the beauty and innocence of his characters.
Other notable individuals with the name Ayelet include Ayelet Shachar (born in 1970), an Israeli philosopher and professor at the University of Toronto, and Ayelet Waldman (born in 1964), an American novelist and essayist known for her works on mental health and feminism.
While the name Ayelet has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has since transcended its origins and gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly among Jewish communities and those with a connection to Israeli culture and heritage.
People
Ayelet + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ayelet 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
Ayelet: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ayelet?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 912 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ayelet 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 375,827 US residents.
Is Ayelet a common name?
We classify Ayelet as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 932 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ayelet most popular?
The single biggest year for Ayelet was 2023, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ayelet 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 Ayelet in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 882 people with the name Ayelet, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,618 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 Ayelet 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 Ayelet?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ayelet appears almost entirely female. Of the 874 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Ayelet?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayelet is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.2%) 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 Ayelet most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ayelet in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (767 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 Ayelet in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ayelet a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ayelet 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 Ayelet still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ayelet 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 Ayelet 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 Ayelet as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.