Recorded 1888–2025 · United States
Angel was most popular in 2006, when 13,828 American babies were given the name — ranking #33 that year. In 2025 it ranked #97, with 5,308 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 366,174 people named Angel.
Angel first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1888, which makes it about 137 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 126 of the 138 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 366,174 American births named Angel between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 352,107 are estimated to be alive today.
5,308 American babies were named Angel in 2025, ranking #97 that year.
Angel is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 5,497 births a year, against 7,960 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -31% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Angel is a unisex name — 27.4% of the 366,174 Americans given it were girls and 72.6% were boys. It changed hands: since 1986 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 13% girls and 87% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 352,107 Americans named Angel are alive today — 96% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 22 years old, and half are between 15 and 33.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Greek · "messenger"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Angel on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org