Ariel
Top 1000
About Ariel
Despite its distinguished pedigree and popularity in Israel, Disney's Little Mermaid cartoonized Ariel in the US, at least in some people's minds. But it was used for a male character in Shakespeare's The Tempest centuries ago.
More recently, cool short form Ari has come into prominence via the character in Entourage, plus its similarity to short, breezy Biblical names like Levi and Eli.
Though Ariel has been on the rise for boys in recent years and flat for girls, the gender divide still leans heavily toward the feminine. But with parents increasingly drawn to uncommon Biblical boy names – especially those with that strong and gentle -iel ending – we think that gap could be set to narrow in the coming years.
Pronounced AIR-ee-ul.
As of October 2026, Ariel ranked #558 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #360 in 1991, Nameberry popularity #840.
Editor: Sophie Kihm
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #743 | 319 | 166.1 |
| 2015 | #602 | 455 | 237.4 |
| 2016 | #499 | 601 | 316.7 |
| 2017 | #487 | 600 | 324.2 |
| 2018 | #584 | 470 | 258.8 |
| 2019 | #552 | 510 | 284.2 |
| 2020 | #564 | 497 | 287.9 |
| 2021 | #557 | 507 | 289.8 |
| 2022 | #569 | 519 | 297.2 |
| 2023 | #522 | 565 | 330.3 |
| 2024 | #511 | 595 | 345.4 |
| 2025 | #558 | 533 | 312 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Ariel.
- Santiago
- Valentino
- Joaquin
- Salvatore
- Hiro
- Viktor
- Malik
- Kasper
- Takuma
- Chidi
- Angelo
- Ajax
- Tirian
- Thor
- Thiago
- Khalíl
- Kenji
- Kyi
- Hermes
- Laius
Ariel on lists
Famous Ariels
- Ariel
biblical archangel
- Ariel Sharon (born 1928)
former Israeli prime minister
- Ariel Ticona
Chilean miner who was trapped in the San Jose mine
- Ariel Donida
male model
- Ariel Camacho
Mexican singer
- Ariel Rechtshaid
American record producer
- Ariel "Rel" Schulman
American actor, director and producer
- Ariel Vromen
Israeli,born film director
- Ariel Marcus Rosenberg
real name of singer/songwriter Ariel Pink
- Ariel Swanepoel Nicoli (born 2018)
son of Candice Swanepoel and Hermann Nicoli.
- Ariel Malyar
Israeli Paralympic swimmer
Ariel in pop culture
- Ariel
another name for Jerusalem (Isaiah 29:1)
- Ariel "Ari" Gold
character in the HBO series "Entourage"
- Ariel
magicial sprite in Shakespeare's "The Tempest"
- Ferdinand Lured by Ariel
1850 painting by John Everett Millais which depicts an episode from Act I, Scene II of "The Tempest"
- Ariel
antagonist in the SNES video game "Arcana"
- Ariel
Maquia's adopted son in Maquia When the promised flower blooms anime
Variations & nicknames
- AriaelAriel