How popular is the baby name Axel in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Axel.

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Popularity of the baby name Axel


Posts that mention the name Axel

Popular baby names in Mexico, 2021

Flag of Mexico
Flag of Mexico

Mexico, the 10th-most-populated country in the world, is located in the southern part of North America.

In 2021, Mexico welcomed 1,912,178 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Santiago.

Here are Mexico’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Sofia, 6,552 baby girls
  2. Maria Jose, 6,019
  3. Valentina, 5,671
  4. Regina, 5,556
  5. Camila, 5,255
  6. Valeria, 3,890
  7. Ximena, 3,794
  8. Maria Fernanda, 3,779
  9. Victoria, 3,622
  10. Renata, 3,495
  11. Romina, 3,447
  12. Isabella, 3,199
  13. Natalia, 3,036
  14. Daniela, 3,012
  15. Ana Sofia, 2,790
  16. Alexa, 2,528
  17. Fernanda, 2,515
  18. Maria Guadalupe, 2,468
  19. Samantha, 2,322
  20. Andrea, 2,275
  21. Aitana, 2,208
  22. Emily, 2,133
  23. Melissa, 2,107
  24. Guadalupe, 2,030
  25. Elizabeth, 2,002
  26. Mariana, 1,828
  27. Yamileth, 1,730 – a Latin American variant of the Arabic name Jamila
  28. Danna Sofia, 1,696
  29. Ana Victoria, 1,644
  30. Ana Paula, 1,620
  31. Alejandra, 1,581
  32. Fatima, 1,565
  33. Abigail, 1,560
  34. Julieta, 1,543
  35. Evelyn, 1,540
  36. Esmeralda, 1,407
  37. Luciana, 1,395
  38. Lucia, 1,299
  39. Estefania, 1,260
  40. Maria, 1,244
  41. Jimena, 1,227
  42. Vanessa, 1,215
  43. Ivanna, 1,201
  44. Dayana, 1,197
  45. Kimberly, 1,142
  46. Angela, 1,122
  47. Samara, 1,113
  48. Carolina, 1,102
  49. Emma, 1,098
  50. Miranda, 1,096

Boy Names

  1. Santiago, 9,963 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 8,209
  3. Sebastian, 6,381
  4. Leonardo, 5,784
  5. Matias, 4,708
  6. Emiliano, 4,541
  7. Daniel, 4,133
  8. Gael, 4,024
  9. Miguel Angel, 4,019
  10. Diego, 4,014
  11. Alexander, 3,644
  12. Alejandro, 3,640
  13. Jesus, 3,179
  14. Angel, 2,928
  15. David, 2,866
  16. Tadeo, 2,795 – the Spanish form of Thaddeus
  17. Fernando, 2,676
  18. Luis Angel, 2,632
  19. Rodrigo, 2,533
  20. Jose Angel, 2,442
  21. Maximiliano, 2,411
  22. Jose Luis, 2,374
  23. Gabriel, 2,365
  24. Eduardo, 2,357
  25. Emmanuel, 2,344
  26. Dylan, 2,325
  27. Rafael, 2,142
  28. Juan Pablo, 2,080
  29. Samuel, 2,066
  30. Juan Carlos, 2,052
  31. Jose Manuel, 2,046
  32. Nicolas, 1,989
  33. Isaac, 1,972
  34. Leonel, 1,966
  35. Elias, 1,940
  36. Damian, 1,899
  37. Liam, 1,880
  38. Axel, 1,850
  39. Emilio, 1,822
  40. Ricardo, 1,778
  41. Adrian, 1,770
  42. Jose Miguel, 1,739
  43. Jonathan, 1,710
  44. Carlos, 1,689
  45. Antonio, 1,680
  46. Francisco, 1,678
  47. Javier, 1,675
  48. Alexis, 1,672
  49. Alan, 1,657
  50. Miguel, 1,636

The girls’ top 100 included Dulce Maria (51st), Aylin (58th), Itzayana (67th), and Lucero (93rd).

The boys’ top 100 included Juan (56th), Abraham (66th), Erick (83rd), and Brayan (87th).

Compound first names tend to be shortened for everyday use (e.g, “Juan Carlos” into “Juanca”), but few of these shortened forms have evolved into popular legal names, which I find surprising. I didn’t spot any examples on the boys’ side of the rankings, and only a handful — such as Mayte/Maite, short for María Teresa, and Maribel, short for María Isabel — on the girls’ side.

Finally, here are Mexico’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Natalidad – INEGI, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Mexico (public domain)

Popular baby names in New York City, 2021

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

New York City, located in southeastern New York state, is the most populous city in the United States.

In 2021, New York City welcomed 99,262 babies — 48,648 girls and 50,614 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Liam.

Here are New York City’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 434 baby girls
  2. Olivia
  3. Mia
  4. Sophia
  5. Leah
  6. Ava
  7. Isabella
  8. Amelia
  9. Luna
  10. Sofia

Boy Names

  1. Liam, 703 baby boys
  2. Noah
  3. Ethan
  4. Lucas
  5. Jacob
  6. Joseph
  7. David
  8. Daniel
  9. Aiden
  10. Benjamin

In the girls’ top 10, Luna and Sofia replaced Sarah and Chloe.

In the boys’ top 10, Benjamin replaced Alexander.

Names in the top 100 included: Grace, Lily, Violet, Aurora, Angel, Ruby, Rose, Harper, Axel, Melody, Summer, Serenity, Iris, Autumn, Jade, Chase, August, Angelina, Ivy, Eden, Goldy, Daisy, Journey, and Faith. (Genders weren’t specified, but most of these look like girl names to me.)

If you’d like to compare 2021 to earlier years, here are NYC’s 2020 rankings, and here’s a round-up of all the NYC rankings from 2019 all the way back to 1990 (plus a few from even earlier).

Source: Health Department Announces Top Baby Names in New York City

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

Popular baby names in France, 2021

Flag of France
Flag of France

Did you know that France is the most-visited tourist destination in the world?

Last year, the country welcomed about 738,000 babies. The most popular names among these babies were Jade (pronounced zhahd) and Gabriel.

Here are France’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Jade, 3,802 baby girls
  2. Louise, 3,768
  3. Emma, 3,202
  4. Ambre, 3,017
  5. Alice, 2,769
  6. Rose, 2,703
  7. Anna, 2,515
  8. Alba, 2,504
  9. Romy, 2,446
  10. Mia, 2,430
  11. Lina, 2,366
  12. Lou, 2,222
  13. Julia, 2,212
  14. Chloé, 2,210
  15. Léna, 2,093
  16. Léa, 2,039
  17. Agathe, 2,020
  18. Iris, 2,006
  19. Nina, 1,896
  20. Juliette, 1,870
  21. Inaya, 1,867 – an Urdu name derived from the Arabic word inayah, meaning “care, concern.”
  22. Zoé, 1,840
  23. Jeanne, 1,727
  24. Léonie, 1,726
  25. Charlie, 1,725
  26. Eva, 1,709
  27. Mila, 1,706
  28. Luna, 1,686
  29. Adèle, 1,661
  30. Victoire, 1,648
  31. Inès, 1,594
  32. Olivia, 1,594
  33. Lola, 1,547
  34. Victoria, 1,537
  35. Lucie, 1,493
  36. Margaux, 1,472
  37. Romane, 1,458
  38. Giulia, 1,454
  39. Camille, 1,428
  40. Sofia, 1,381
  41. Charlotte, 1,352
  42. Alix, 1,349
  43. Nour, 1,274
  44. Lyana, 1,237
  45. Margot, 1,225
  46. Sarah, 1,214
  47. Louna, 1,209 – likely based on Luna (#28).
  48. Mya, 1,182
  49. Manon, 1,177
  50. Lya, 1,158

Boy Names

  1. Gabriel, 4,974 baby boys
  2. Léo, 4,358
  3. Raphaël, 3,957
  4. Louis, 3,715
  5. Arthur, 3,598
  6. Jules, 3,594
  7. Maël, 3,438
  8. Noah, 3,384
  9. Adam, 3,148
  10. Lucas, 3,054
  11. Hugo, 2,905
  12. Gabin, 2,719 – based on the Latin name Gabinus, which might have referred to the ancient city of Gabii (located in what is now central Italy).
  13. Liam, 2,672
  14. Sacha, 2,628
  15. Aaron, 2,496
  16. Léon, 2,362
  17. Isaac, 2,322
  18. Paul, 2,291
  19. Nathan, 2,286
  20. Noé, 2,276
  21. Eden, 2,260
  22. Mohamed, 2,183
  23. Ethan, 2,104
  24. Tom, 1,995
  25. Malo, 1,935 – a Breton name probably derived from the Old Breton elements mach, meaning “pledge, hostage,” and lou, meaning “luminous; beautiful.”
  26. Naël, 1,919
  27. Théo, 1,902
  28. Marius, 1,868
  29. Nino, 1,838
  30. Marceau, 1,834
  31. Mathis, 1,801
  32. Victor, 1,768
  33. Ayden, 1,753
  34. Milo, 1,723
  35. Martin, 1,712
  36. Tiago, 1,658
  37. Robin, 1,657
  38. Axel, 1,571
  39. Timéo, 1,541
  40. Eliott, 1,538 (tie)
  41. Lyam, 1,538 (tie)
  42. Enzo, 1,503
  43. Antoine, 1,445
  44. Nolan, 1,439
  45. Augustin, 1,430
  46. Gaspard, 1,379
  47. Valentin, 1,362
  48. Amir, 1,309
  49. Samuel, 1,301
  50. Côme, 1,300 – (pronounced kohm, as in the brand name Lancôme) the French form of Cosmas, ultimately derived from the ancient Greek word kosmos, meaning “order.”

The girls’ top 100 included Capucine (52nd), Apolline (65th), Thaïs (82nd), and Garance (98th).

The boys’ top 100 included Sohan (55th), Kaïs (58th), Soan (66th), and Livio (81st).

Soan, a variant spelling of Sohan, has been popularized recently by French singer/songwriter Soan (born Julien Decroix).

Also on the boys’ list, Charly (#78) pulled ahead of Charlie (#90) after the names saw nearly identical levels of usage in 2020. I wonder if this means that Charly is emerging as the preferred male spelling of the name…?

Gabriel also topped the rankings for the capital city of Paris last year. Jade, on the other hand, didn’t even make the top 10 — it was way down in 32nd place.

Finally, here are France’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Classement des prénoms en France depuis 1900 – Insee, Demography report 2021 – Insee, World Tourism rankings – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, Malo (saint) – Wikipeda

Image: Adapted from Flag of France (public domain)

Popular baby names in Austin (Texas), 2017

Flag of Texas
Flag of Texas

A few days ago, I stumbled upon a set of baby name data for Austin, Texas, for the year 2017. While it isn’t current, it does seem to be complete — so it includes hundreds of rare and single-use names (which are always fascinating!).

The data accounts for nearly 19,900 births (9,733 girls and 10,163 boys), and features nearly 6,100 names (3,431 given to girls, 2,656 given to boys).

According to this data, which comes from the City of Austin’s Open Data Portal, the top baby names in the capital of Texas five years ago were Emma and James.

Here are Austin’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2017:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 98 baby girls
  2. Isabella, 88
  3. Olivia, 84
  4. Mia, 81
  5. Evelyn, 77
  6. Sophia, 75
  7. Ava, 73
  8. Abigail, 59 (tie)
  9. Charlotte, 59 (tie)
  10. Emily, 58
  11. Camila, 56 (tie)
  12. Elizabeth, 56 (tie)
  13. Harper, 53
  14. Amelia, 52
  15. Penelope, 51 (tie)
  16. Sofia, 51 (tie)
  17. Scarlett, 46
  18. Ella, 45
  19. Avery, 43 (tie)
  20. Zoe, 43 (tie)
  21. Lillian, 41
  22. Layla, 40 (tie)
  23. Madison, 40 (tie)
  24. Eleanor, 39
  25. Victoria, 38
  26. Allison, 37
  27. Claire, 36 (3-way tie)
  28. Elena, 36 (3-way tie)
  29. Luna, 36 (3-way tie)
  30. Aria, 35 (tie)
  31. Chloe, 35 (tie)
  32. Ellie, 34 (tie)
  33. Katherine, 34 (tie)
  34. Samantha, 33
  35. Hannah, 30 (4-way tie)
  36. Hazel, 30 (4-way tie)
  37. Mila, 30 (4-way tie)
  38. Stella, 30 (4-way tie)
  39. Leah, 29
  40. Cora, 28 (5-way tie)
  41. Genesis, 28 (5-way tie)
  42. Grace, 28 (5-way tie)
  43. Natalie, 28 (5-way tie)
  44. Ximena, 28 (5-way tie)
  45. Clara, 27 (3-way tie)
  46. Eliana, 27 (3-way tie)
  47. Ruby, 27 (3-way tie)
  48. Audrey, 26 (tie)
  49. Sarah, 26 (tie)
  50. Alexa, 25 (3-way tie)
  51. Everly, 25 (3-way tie)
  52. Lily, 25 (3-way tie)

Boy Names

  1. James, 104 baby boys
  2. Noah, 85
  3. Daniel, 83
  4. Benjamin, 82
  5. William, 80
  6. Oliver, 75
  7. Liam, 74
  8. Alexander, 73
  9. Sebastian, 70
  10. Henry, 67
  11. Elijah, 66 (tie)
  12. Mateo, 66 (tie)
  13. Ethan, 65
  14. Jackson, 63
  15. Anthony, 61
  16. Jacob, 60
  17. Aiden, 59 (tie)
  18. Luke, 59 (tie)
  19. David, 58 (tie)
  20. Samuel, 58 (tie)
  21. John, 56
  22. Isaac, 55 (tie)
  23. Julian, 55 (tie)
  24. Michael, 54
  25. Charles, 53 (3-way tie)
  26. Jack, 53 (3-way tie)
  27. Matthew, 53 (3-way tie)
  28. Jose, 52 (tie)
  29. Joshua, 52 (tie)
  30. Wyatt, 50
  31. Aaron, 49 (4-way tie)
  32. Grayson, 49 (4-way tie)
  33. Joseph, 49 (4-way tie)
  34. Levi, 49 (4-way tie)
  35. Dylan, 48
  36. Hudson, 47
  37. Josiah, 46 (3-way tie)
  38. Logan, 46 (3-way tie)
  39. Santiago, 46 (3-way tie)
  40. Jayden, 45
  41. Nathan, 44
  42. Christopher, 43 (tie)
  43. Thomas, 43 (tie)
  44. Andrew, 42 (4-way tie)
  45. Gabriel, 42 (4-way tie)
  46. Luis, 42 (4-way tie)
  47. Owen, 42 (4-way tie)
  48. Lucas, 41
  49. Adrian, 40 (3-way tie)
  50. Axel, 40 (3-way tie)
  51. Christian, 40 (3-way tie)

On the girls’ list, Allison caught my eye. It ranked 26th in Austin in 2017, but 61st nationally the same year. Interesting.

Further down on the boys’ list was Austin itself, in 95th place — vs. 75th nationally — with 21 baby boys. Much further down was Texas, with 2 baby boys.

And now it’s time for the unique names!

One-of-a-kind names were given to 24% of the baby girls and 17% of the baby boys born in Austin in 2017. Here’s a sampling of the names that were bestowed just once:

Unique Girl NamesUnique Boy Names
Aubrion, Autry, Blue Jay, Cadeau, Ceiba, Dulceluna, Eeriemoon, Fiza, Gilana, Holleen, Itzigueri, Jill, Kasleen, Lillabee, L’Oreal, Mauzie, Millioni, Nincye, Nobelina, Orchid, Princess Plethora, Qiwei, Roshnee, Scepter, Shanze, Thais, Tsumugi, Umutoni, Vyga, Wengiel, Xyzla, Ynafets, ZieglindAshton Alchimist, Bruges, Cayenne, Dalbus, Eames, Fenghua, Ganesh, Getsai, Hackett, Itzae, Jizael, Kavelli Kaine, Linnaeus, Linux, Mazoree, Mistral, Naranna, Nimbus, Olince, Penn, Qhing, Rigveda, Shooter, Syphax, Tavoric, Templar, Urfan, Vetri, Wajahat, Xavi, Yoonbin, Zaxton

Some possible explanations/associations for a few of the above:

  • Cadeau is the French word for “present, gift.”
  • Ceiba is a type of tree.
  • Tsumugi Shirogane is a character from the 2017 video game Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony.
  • Ynafets is “Stefany” spelled backwards.
  • Bruges is the capital of West Flanders (a province of Belgium).
  • Mistral is a strong late-winter wind in southern France.
  • The Rigveda is a sacred Hindu text.

I’ve never posted rankings for Austin before, but I have posted rankings recently for two nearby Texas cities: Houston (which is more than twice the size of Austin, population-wise) and College Station (which is about an eighth of the size of Austin).

Sources: From Aadhav to Zyva: 6,087 Names of Babies Born in Austin in 2017 | Open Data | City of Austin Texas, Wiktionary

Image: Adapted from Flag of Texas (public domain)