Jael
Jael is given to both girls and boys: 157 girls and 147 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,393 among girls’ names and #1,317 among boys’, #1,673 among all names counting both); 7,948 Americans have been recorded with it since 1957 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Jael every year since 2024.
An estimated 7,850 Americans named Jael and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 14 years old and half are between 7 and 21.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Jael by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Jael mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Jael is “a female given name from Hebrew.”
From the name of a minor biblical character, Hebrew יעל.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Jael?
#1,393 among girls’ names, 2025
Jael rose from #1,501 in 2015 to #1,393 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 85.1 to 97.7 per million.
409 babies in 2012, the peak
Jael peaked in 2012, when 409 babies were given it (206 girls, #1,197 among girls’ names). The 304 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 74% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 157 | #1,393 | 147 | #1,317 |
| 2024 | 149 | #1,468 | 138 | #1,364 |
| 2023 | 134 | #1,578 | 148 | #1,295 |
| 2022 | 143 | #1,515 | 124 | #1,461 |
| 2021 | 131 | #1,605 | 140 | #1,328 |
| 2020 | 127 | #1,636 | 163 | #1,184 |
| 2019 | 154 | #1,444 | 133 | #1,349 |
| 2018 | 173 | #1,316 | 129 | #1,370 |
| 2017 | 147 | #1,509 | 136 | #1,326 |
| 2016 | 145 | #1,547 | 140 | #1,301 |
Every recorded year (60)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 152 | #1,501 | 128 | #1,364 |
| 2014 | 159 | #1,429 | 124 | #1,380 |
| 2013 | 177 | #1,327 | 161 | #1,130 |
| 2012 | 206 | #1,197 | 203 | #987 |
| 2011 | 156 | #1,446 | 117 | #1,421 |
| 2010 | 161 | #1,423 | 145 | #1,221 |
| 2009 | 131 | #1,698 | 154 | #1,176 |
| 2008 | 167 | #1,423 | 127 | #1,351 |
| 2007 | 175 | #1,383 | 146 | #1,211 |
| 2006 | 105 | #1,924 | 103 | #1,483 |
| 2005 | 87 | #2,128 | 113 | #1,336 |
| 2004 | 84 | #2,138 | 84 | #1,569 |
| 2003 | 100 | #1,849 | 64 | #1,854 |
| 2002 | 94 | #1,888 | 55 | #2,005 |
| 2001 | 76 | #2,154 | 43 | #2,317 |
| 2000 | 87 | #1,940 | 24 | #3,459 |
| 1999 | 77 | #2,023 | 19 | #3,895 |
| 1998 | 65 | #2,202 | 20 | #3,633 |
| 1997 | 53 | #2,456 | 20 | #3,508 |
| 1996 | 68 | #2,045 | 11 | #5,318 |
| 1995 | 49 | #2,560 | 22 | #3,134 |
| 1994 | 50 | #2,511 | 14 | #4,391 |
| 1993 | 37 | #3,117 | 15 | #4,102 |
| 1992 | 41 | #2,881 | 10 | #5,380 |
| 1991 | 34 | #3,232 | 10 | #5,256 |
| 1990 | 36 | #3,097 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 38 | #2,887 | 6 | #7,353 |
| 1988 | 31 | #3,177 | 7 | #6,035 |
| 1987 | 35 | #2,798 | 9 | #4,709 |
| 1986 | 26 | #3,390 | 9 | #4,619 |
| 1985 | 28 | #3,186 | 9 | #4,467 |
| 1984 | 27 | #3,174 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 23 | #3,470 | 7 | #5,139 |
| 1982 | 22 | #3,693 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 29 | #3,015 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 20 | #3,895 | 5 | #6,657 |
| 1979 | 36 | #2,547 | 5 | #6,457 |
| 1978 | 17 | #4,140 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 18 | #3,954 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 12 | #4,994 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 21 | #3,323 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 11 | #5,134 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 17 | #3,688 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 12 | #4,623 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 6 | #7,736 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 6 | #7,405 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,191 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 10 | #4,599 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 6 | #6,079 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 14 | #3,203 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Jael a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 7,948 Americans recorded as Jael, 57% are girls and 43% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Jael: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Jael, and how old are they?
7,850 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 7,948 Americans ever recorded as Jael. The median Jael alive today is 14 years old; half are between 7 and 21.
The 2020 Census counted 6,487 people named Jael (4,111 women and girls, 2,376 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,251 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 11 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 198 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 683 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,220 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,730 |
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 Jael born?
The states with the most babies named Jael are Texas, Florida and New York, with 44% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 40 | #1,329 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 30 | #930 | 1.3× |
| New York | 26 | #1,727 | 1.5× |
| California | 25 | #2,009 | 0.9× |
| Pennsylvania | 18 | #1,159 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 14 | #1,253 | 1.2× |
| North Carolina | 11 | #1,342 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 10 | #939 | 0.7× |
| Massachusetts | 9 | #588 | 0.6× |
| Tennessee | 8 | #841 | 0.1× |
Where Jael is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Jael is most over-represented in New York: since 1957 it was given 1.5 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 girls’ 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 Jael 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 8,121 babies since 1880, Jael is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 304 of their 304 babies (100%), 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 Jael
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 Jael and names like it
- Compare Jael and JayelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sJael peaked in 2012.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Jael since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Jael: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2012The year the most babies were named Jael.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Jael alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with JMost given first.