Abel
Abel was given to 1,525 boys in 2025, #231 among boys’ names; 66,198 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 60,400 Americans named Abel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 8 and 31.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Abel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Abel mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Abel is “a male given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the senses “Abel” (הֶבֶל) and “breath, vapor; vanity” (הֶבֶל) and “son” (𒌉𒍑).
From Middle English Abel, from Old English Ābel, from Latin Abel, from Ancient Greek Ἅβελ (Hábel), from Biblical Hebrew הֶבֶל (Héḇel, “Abel”), possibly from the homonymous word הֶבֶל (heḇel, “breath, vapor; vanity”) or from Akkadian 𒌉𒍑 (ablu, “son”).
/ˈeɪ.bl̩/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Abel?
#231 among boys’ names, 2025
Abel fell from #124 in 2015 to #231 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 1.7 to 0.89 per 1,000.
3,255 babies in 2015, the peak
Abel peaked in 2015, when 3,255 babies were given it (3,245 boys, #124 among boys’ names). The 1,530 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 47% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 1,525 | #231 | 0.89 |
| 2024 | 1,635 | #220 | 0.95 |
| 2023 | 1,658 | #220 | 1.0 |
| 2022 | 1,769 | #215 | 1.0 |
| 2021 | 1,956 | #195 | 1.1 |
| 2020 | 2,131 | #181 | 1.2 |
| 2019 | 2,469 | #158 | 1.4 |
| 2018 | 2,682 | #146 | 1.5 |
| 2017 | 2,714 | #145 | 1.5 |
| 2016 | 3,045 | #137 | 1.6 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,245 | #124 | 1.7 |
| 2014 | 2,573 | #164 | 1.3 |
| 2013 | 2,238 | #180 | 1.2 |
| 2012 | 1,952 | #192 | 1.0 |
| 2011 | 1,508 | #238 | 0.79 |
| 2010 | 1,128 | #293 | 0.59 |
| 2009 | 964 | #330 | 0.49 |
| 2008 | 864 | #361 | 0.42 |
| 2007 | 940 | #343 | 0.45 |
| 2006 | 924 | #338 | 0.45 |
| 2005 | 855 | #347 | 0.43 |
| 2004 | 791 | #356 | 0.40 |
| 2003 | 755 | #360 | 0.38 |
| 2002 | 775 | #353 | 0.40 |
| 2001 | 733 | #362 | 0.38 |
| 2000 | 763 | #352 | 0.39 |
| 1999 | 711 | #367 | 0.37 |
| 1998 | 668 | #378 | 0.35 |
| 1997 | 718 | #352 | 0.38 |
| 1996 | 606 | #387 | 0.32 |
| 1995 | 717 | #340 | 0.38 |
| 1994 | 584 | #399 | 0.30 |
| 1993 | 620 | #377 | 0.32 |
| 1992 | 631 | #370 | 0.32 |
| 1991 | 623 | #370 | 0.31 |
| 1990 | 606 | #382 | 0.30 |
| 1989 | 541 | #400 | 0.27 |
| 1988 | 514 | #384 | 0.27 |
| 1987 | 458 | #407 | 0.25 |
| 1986 | 482 | #381 | 0.26 |
| 1985 | 462 | #387 | 0.25 |
| 1984 | 426 | #400 | 0.24 |
| 1983 | 426 | #391 | 0.24 |
| 1982 | 468 | #371 | 0.26 |
| 1981 | 479 | #365 | 0.27 |
| 1980 | 474 | #366 | 0.27 |
| 1979 | 428 | #389 | 0.25 |
| 1978 | 371 | #400 | 0.23 |
| 1977 | 347 | #424 | 0.21 |
| 1976 | 395 | #390 | 0.25 |
| 1975 | 382 | #396 | 0.24 |
| 1974 | 330 | #435 | 0.21 |
| 1973 | 361 | #412 | 0.23 |
| 1972 | 321 | #443 | 0.20 |
| 1971 | 310 | #465 | 0.18 |
| 1970 | 283 | #480 | 0.15 |
| 1969 | 277 | #458 | 0.15 |
| 1968 | 267 | #465 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 251 | #475 | 0.14 |
| 1966 | 256 | #480 | 0.14 |
| 1965 | 283 | #462 | 0.15 |
| 1964 | 273 | #478 | 0.14 |
| 1963 | 272 | #484 | 0.13 |
| 1962 | 258 | #494 | 0.12 |
| 1961 | 281 | #477 | 0.13 |
| 1960 | 247 | #505 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 226 | #524 | 0.11 |
| 1958 | 241 | #499 | 0.11 |
| 1957 | 236 | #503 | 0.11 |
| 1956 | 215 | #514 | 0.10 |
| 1955 | 215 | #503 | 0.10 |
| 1954 | 223 | #483 | 0.11 |
| 1953 | 217 | #472 | 0.11 |
| 1952 | 162 | #548 | 0.08 |
| 1951 | 183 | #499 | 0.10 |
| 1950 | 170 | #513 | 0.09 |
| 1949 | 161 | #524 | 0.09 |
| 1948 | 151 | #539 | 0.09 |
| 1947 | 146 | #558 | 0.08 |
| 1946 | 117 | #592 | 0.07 |
| 1945 | 113 | #567 | 0.08 |
| 1944 | 118 | #559 | 0.09 |
| 1943 | 92 | #668 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 105 | #615 | 0.08 |
| 1941 | 121 | #535 | 0.10 |
| 1940 | 101 | #589 | 0.09 |
| 1939 | 95 | #594 | 0.09 |
| 1938 | 87 | #640 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 91 | #609 | 0.09 |
| 1936 | 75 | #685 | 0.07 |
| 1935 | 92 | #605 | 0.09 |
| 1934 | 93 | #615 | 0.09 |
| 1933 | 96 | #591 | 0.10 |
| 1932 | 95 | #607 | 0.09 |
| 1931 | 93 | #616 | 0.09 |
| 1930 | 122 | #540 | 0.11 |
| 1929 | 96 | #620 | 0.09 |
| 1928 | 85 | #685 | 0.08 |
| 1927 | 79 | #733 | 0.07 |
| 1926 | 101 | #622 | 0.09 |
| 1925 | 83 | #710 | 0.07 |
| 1924 | 110 | #608 | 0.10 |
| 1923 | 73 | #769 | 0.07 |
| 1922 | 91 | #678 | 0.08 |
| 1921 | 84 | #715 | 0.08 |
| 1920 | 79 | #732 | 0.07 |
| 1919 | 91 | #638 | 0.09 |
| 1918 | 76 | #733 | 0.07 |
| 1917 | 86 | #640 | 0.09 |
| 1916 | 62 | #781 | 0.07 |
| 1915 | 64 | #750 | 0.08 |
| 1914 | 51 | #734 | 0.08 |
| 1913 | 48 | #641 | 0.09 |
| 1912 | 40 | #668 | 0.09 |
| 1911 | 30 | #548 | 0.13 |
| 1910 | 11 | #980 | 0.06 |
| 1909 | 16 | #679 | 0.10 |
| 1908 | 15 | #685 | 0.10 |
| 1907 | 10 | #865 | 0.07 |
| 1906 | 11 | #752 | 0.08 |
| 1905 | 6 | #1,090 | 0.05 |
| 1904 | 10 | #760 | 0.08 |
| 1903 | 14 | #595 | 0.12 |
| 1902 | 11 | #686 | 0.09 |
| 1901 | 13 | #559 | 0.12 |
| 1900 | 15 | #648 | 0.10 |
| 1899 | 15 | #502 | 0.14 |
| 1898 | 10 | #700 | 0.08 |
| 1897 | 12 | #615 | 0.11 |
| 1896 | 15 | #534 | 0.13 |
| 1895 | 6 | #977 | 0.05 |
| 1894 | 15 | #521 | 0.13 |
| 1893 | 13 | #538 | 0.12 |
| 1892 | 8 | #791 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 10 | #597 | 0.10 |
| 1890 | 14 | #511 | 0.13 |
| 1889 | 9 | #673 | 0.08 |
| 1888 | 8 | #755 | 0.07 |
| 1887 | 11 | #544 | 0.11 |
| 1886 | 16 | #451 | 0.14 |
| 1885 | 6 | #836 | 0.06 |
| 1884 | 14 | #504 | 0.12 |
| 1883 | 12 | #527 | 0.11 |
| 1882 | 10 | #611 | 0.09 |
| 1881 | 12 | #503 | 0.12 |
| 1880 | 9 | #640 | 0.08 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Abel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Abel has been given almost only to boys: 161 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Abel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Abel, and how old are they?
60,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 66,198 Americans ever recorded as Abel. The median Abel alive today is 14 years old; half are between 8 and 31.
The 2020 Census counted 63,705 people named Abel (283 women and girls, 63,422 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 51,326 born in the U.S. The Census count is 24% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 354 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,720 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,750 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 8,270 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 14,800 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 29,500 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Abel born?
The states with the most babies named Abel are California, Texas and Florida, with 35% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 246 | #157 | 1.8× |
| Texas | 216 | #173 | 2.3× |
| Florida | 62 | #314 | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 56 | #222 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 55 | #212 | 0.8× |
| Arizona | 54 | #165 | 1.8× |
| Ohio | 47 | #265 | 0.4× |
| Georgia | 46 | #267 | 0.6× |
| Indiana | 45 | #188 | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 43 | #207 | 0.7× |
Where Abel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Abel is most over-represented in New Mexico: since 1910 it was given 2.7 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Abel with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 67,901 babies since 1880, Abel is the most given (97% of them). In 2025 it was given to 1,530 of their 1,627 babies (94%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Abel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Abel and names like it
- Compare Abel and AbielBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sAbel peaked in 2015.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Abel since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Abel: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2015The year the most babies were named Abel.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Abel alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with AMost given first.