Chael
A name believed to relate to the Hebrew name 'Chayil' meaning "strength" or "force".
Name Census estimates that about 515 living Americans carry the first name Chael. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Chael today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Chael births was 2013 (96 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Chael. 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 Chael with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
515
~ 1 in 665,542 Americans
Peak year
2013
96 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,686
Tracked since 2003
Census
Chael in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 498 people with the first name Chael, which placed it at #20,655 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
#20,655
National first-name rank
People counted
498
498 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Chael
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chael is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.1%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Chael 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 Chael at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.4% · 281
- Hispanic or Latino20.1% · 100
- Two or more races7.8% · 39
- Black or African American7.4% · 37
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.6% · 18
Popularity
Chael: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Chael from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 401 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Chael 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 Chael during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Chaels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Chael, while Ohio, New York, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 8 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Chael
The given name Chael is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language and culture, with its roots tracing back to ancient times. It is thought to be a variation of the name Michael, derived from the Hebrew words "mi ka'el," which translates to "who is like God."
Historically, the name Chael has been associated with several notable figures. In the Old Testament of the Bible, there is a mention of a man named Chael, who was a son of Semida from the tribe of Manasseh. This reference dates back to around the 13th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Chael was Chael of Antioch, a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century CE. He was executed during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Decius.
In the 11th century, there was a prominent figure named Chael the Wise, a renowned scholar and philosopher from Persia. He is known for his contributions to the fields of mathematics, astronomy, and literature.
During the Middle Ages, a French knight named Chael de Montfort gained recognition for his bravery and military exploits in the Crusades. He participated in the Siege of Acre in 1191 CE.
In the 16th century, an Italian painter and architect named Chael Buonarroti, better known as Michelangelo, left an indelible mark on the world of art with his masterpieces, including the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the statue of David.
Throughout history, the name Chael has also been associated with various other noteworthy individuals, including Chael Faraday, an English scientist who contributed significantly to the study of electromagnetism in the 19th century, and Chael Phelps, an American swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time, born in 1985.
People
Chael + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Chael as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Chael: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Chael?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 515 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Chael 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 665,542 US residents.
Is Chael a common name?
We classify Chael as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 519 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Chael most popular?
The single biggest year for Chael was 2013, when 96 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Chael is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Chael in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 498 people with the name Chael, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,655 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 Chael 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 Chael?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Chael leans strongly male. 459 people counted with this name were male (93.9%), compared with 30 female bearers (6.1%). 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 Chael?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Chael is White at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.1%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Chael most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Chael in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.4% (281 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 Chael in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Chael a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Chael 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 Chael still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Chael 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 Chael 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 Chael?
Want to know how many people have the name Chael? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.