Recorded 1957–2025 · United States
Jael was most popular in 2012, when 409 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,289 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,670, with 304 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 7,948 people named Jael.
Jael first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1957, which makes it about 68 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 60 of the 69 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 7,948 American births named Jael 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 7,856 are estimated to be alive today.
304 American babies were named Jael in 2025, ranking #1,670 that year.
Jael is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 282 births a year, against 317 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -11% 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 Jael is a unisex name — 57.4% of the 7,948 Americans given it were girls and 42.6% were boys. It changed hands: since 2024 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 51% girls and 49% 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 7,856 Americans named Jael are alive today — 99% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 14 years old, and half are between 7 and 21.
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 Jael on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org