Recorded 1892–2025 · United States
Ariel was most popular in 1991, when 6,077 American babies were given the name — ranking #122 that year. In 2025 it ranked #485, with 1,384 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 100,665 people named Ariel.
Ariel first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1892, which makes it about 133 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 125 of the 134 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 100,665 American births named Ariel 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 98,287 are estimated to be alive today.
1,384 American babies were named Ariel in 2025, ranking #485 that year.
Ariel is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 1,674 births a year, against 2,374 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -29% 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 Ariel is a unisex name — 78.2% of the 100,665 Americans given it were girls and 21.8% were boys. It changed hands: since 1982 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 73% girls and 27% 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 98,287 Americans named Ariel are alive today — 98% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 24 years old, and half are between 12 and 34.
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.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Ariel on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org