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Ariel

AH-ree-el, AIR-ee-el
Hebrew
"lion of God"
Pamela Redmond
By Pamela Redmond
Updated Mon Jul 14 2025

Ariel Origin and Meaning

The name Ariel is a girl's name of Hebrew origin meaning "lion of God".

Ariel is a male Biblical name, seen there as the messenger of Ezra, and also used as a symbolic name for the city of Jerusalem, while Shakespeare used it for a (male) sprite in The Tempest.

For girls, Ariel enjoyed a considerable burst of popularity with the 1989 release of Disney's The Little Mermaid: in 1991 it peaked at #66.

Although its wave has crested, Ariel is still a name any little girl would love. It is also associated with the poetry of Sylvia Plath and with the Chilean-American writer Ariel Dorfman. The popular historian Ariel Durant was born Ida Ariel Ethel.

In Israel, Ariel is used as much or more for boys, but in the US, more than three times as many baby girls as boys are named Ariel. Read more about Ariel and other Disney Princess Names in our featured blog.

# 299 in the US

Ariel Rank in US Top 1000

# 666 on Nameberry

Ariel Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name Ariel

20 Names Similar to Ariel

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Ariel.

Famous People Named Ariel

  • Ariel Winter
    American actress
  • Ariel Gade
    American actress
  • Ariel Meredith
    American supermodel
  • Ariel Waller
    Canadian actress
  • Ariel Lin (Yīchén)
    Taiwanese actress and singer
  • Ariel Erin Kaplan
    Australian actress
  • Ariel Bybee
    American operatic mezzo,soprano
  • Ariel Engelbert
    American singer and TV personality; twin sister Zoey Engelbert
  • Ariel Hirsch
    twin sister of Alex Hirsch and the inspiration for "Gravity Falls" Mabel Pines
  • Ariel Shepherd
    Oppenheim, daughter of actress Cybill Shepherd
  • Ariel Coyote
    daughter of actor Peter Coyote
  • Ariel Asa Araya (b. 1996)
    daughter of bassist Tom Araya of Slayer

The name Ariel in Pop Culture

  • Ariel
    main character of Disney's "The Little Mermaid"
  • Ariel Sullivan
    a character in the movie "In America"
  • Ariel Moore
    a character in the 1984 movie "Footloose"
  • Ariel Truax
    a character in the movie "Grumpy Old Men"
  • Ariel Schiller
    a character in "Starting Out in the Evening"
  • Ariel DuBois
    a character in the drama series "Medium"
  • Ariel Wolfe
    a character in "House on Haunted Hill"
  • Ariel Shuman
    from an episode of TV series "Cold Case"
  • Ariel
    a book of poetry by Sylvia Plath

The name Ariel in Nameberry Blog Posts