Fishel
A masculine Yiddish name derived from the German name Feisch.
Name Census estimates that about 276 living Americans carry the first name Fishel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Fishel today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Fishel births was 2018 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Fishel. 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
276
~ 1 in 1,241,864 Americans
Peak year
2018
20 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,557
Tracked since 1959
Popularity
Fishel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Fishel from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 107 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Fishel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fishel 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 Fishel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Fishels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Fishel
Fishel is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin, derived from the biblical name Phishchol. It is a variant spelling of the more common Yiddish name Feivel or Feivish, which itself derives from the Hebrew name Pinchas.
The name Pinchas is found in the Hebrew Bible and is associated with the high priest Pinchas, son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron. The name is believed to have originated from the ancient Egyptian name Pi-Bast, meaning "the one of Bast," referring to the Egyptian cat goddess Bastet.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Fishel can be found in the 16th century, with Rabbi Fishel Kracauer, a prominent Jewish scholar and author who lived in Krakow, Poland, from around 1515 to 1598.
In the 18th century, Fishel Hirsch Kalischer, a prominent rabbi and one of the founders of the Zionist movement, was born in 1795 in Lissa, Prussia (now Poland). He played a significant role in promoting the idea of Jewish settlement in the Land of Israel.
Another notable figure with the name Fishel was Fishel Hershkowitz, a Hasidic rabbi and author who lived in the 19th century. He was born in Berdychiv, Ukraine, in 1820 and is known for his influential works on Hasidic thought and philosophy.
In the 20th century, Fishel Schneersohn, a prominent Chabad-Lubavitch rabbi and scholar, was born in 1887 in Lubavitch, Russia (now Belarus). He was a prolific author and played a significant role in the dissemination of Chabad Hasidism.
Fishel Litvinov, a Russian-born Israeli actor and comedian, was born in 1923 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia). He was known for his roles in numerous Israeli films and television shows, and was a beloved figure in Israeli popular culture.
While Fishel is a relatively uncommon name today, it remains a part of the Jewish cultural heritage and continues to be used as a given name in some communities, particularly among those with Eastern European Jewish roots.
People
Fishel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Fishel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with F
Other first names starting with F with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Fishel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Fishel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 276 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Fishel 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 1,241,864 US residents.
Is Fishel a common name?
We classify Fishel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 280 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Fishel most popular?
The single biggest year for Fishel was 2018, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Fishel is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Fishel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Fishel 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.
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.