Ayriel
A unique feminine name meaning "lioness of God" in Hebrew and English.
Name Census estimates that about 153 living Americans carry the first name Ayriel. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ayriel today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ayriel births was 1991 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ayriel. 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
153
~ 1 in 2,240,224 Americans
Peak year
1991
15 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2019 SSA rank
#15,872
Tracked since 1988
Census
Ayriel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 157 people with the first name Ayriel, which placed it at #44,257 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
#44,257
National first-name rank
People counted
157
157 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
59.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ayriel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayriel is Black at 59.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.1%) and Hispanic (8.9%). 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 Ayriel 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 Ayriel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American59.2% · 93
- White26.1% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino8.9% · 14
- Two or more races5.7% · 9
Popularity
Ayriel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ayriel from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 67 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Ayriel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ayriel 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 Ayriel 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 Ayriel
The name Ayriel is believed to have its origins in the Hebrew language, with roots that can be traced back to ancient times. It is a combination of two Hebrew words: "ayir," meaning "light" or "illumination," and "el," which is a reference to God or a divine being.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Ayriel can be found in the Book of Ezra, a book of the Hebrew Bible, where it is listed as the name of a priestly family that returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile in the 5th century BCE. However, the name's usage was likely more widespread than just this particular family, as names with similar constructions were common in ancient Hebrew culture.
During the Middle Ages, the name Ayriel gained popularity among Jewish communities across Europe and the Middle East. It was often used as a symbolic representation of the divine light and wisdom that was believed to guide and illuminate the path of the righteous.
In the 16th century, a prominent Jewish scholar and philosopher named Ayriel Ben-Avi lived in Italy. He was known for his contributions to the study of Kabbalah and his interpretations of Jewish mystical texts. His writings and teachings helped to further popularize the name among Jewish communities of that era.
Another notable figure named Ayriel was Ayriel Zeliger, a Polish-born Jewish artist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was renowned for his intricate woodcarvings and sculptures, many of which depicted scenes from Jewish folklore and traditions.
In more recent times, the name Ayriel has been adopted by individuals from various cultural backgrounds, often inspired by its connection to light and divinity. One such individual was Ayriel Gómez, a Mexican-American writer and activist who lived from 1945 to 2020. She was known for her work promoting social justice and advocating for the rights of marginalized communities.
People
Ayriel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ayriel 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
Ayriel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ayriel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 153 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ayriel 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 2,240,224 US residents.
Is Ayriel a common name?
We classify Ayriel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 157 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ayriel most popular?
The single biggest year for Ayriel was 1991, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ayriel is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ayriel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 157 people with the name Ayriel, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,257 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 Ayriel 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 Ayriel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ayriel leans strongly female. 156 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Ayriel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ayriel is Black at 59.2%. The next largest groups are White (26.1%) and Hispanic (8.9%). 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 Ayriel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ayriel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.2% (93 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 Ayriel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ayriel a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ayriel 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 Ayriel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ayriel 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 Ayriel 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 common is the name Ayriel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.