How Many People Are Named Abel?
An estimated 59,708 people in the United States have the first name Abel. It is almost exclusively a male name. The average bearer is 23 years old, and Abel peaked in popularity in 2015 with 3,254 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Abel as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Abel paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Abel is overwhelmingly male, 156 female births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
59,708
About 1 in 5,741 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Male
99.8% confidence
Average Age
23
years old
Peak Year
2015
3,254 births
Total Registered
64,639
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Abel
Abel is almost exclusively a male name. Out of 64,639 total births registered, 99.8% were male.
Abel as a male name
Ranked #220 in 2024
1,627 male births in 2024
Peak: 2015 (3,244 births)
Abel as a female name
Ranked #11,077 in 2024
8 female births in 2024
Peak: 2021 (12 births)
Abel: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Abel span from the 1880s to the 2020s, covering 15 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 23,587 babies were registered. While Abel is less common than at its peak in the 2010s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Abel by Decade
How has Abel tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
| Decade | Total | Male | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 107 | 107 | 0 | |
| 1890s | 118 | 118 | 0 | |
| 1900s | 121 | 121 | 0 | |
| 1910s | 559 | 559 | 0 | |
| 1920s | 881 | 881 | 0 | |
| 1930s | 939 | 939 | 0 | |
| 1940s | 1,225 | 1,225 | 0 | |
| 1950s | 2,088 | 2,088 | 0 | |
| 1960s | 2,665 | 2,665 | 0 | |
| 1970s | 3,538 | 3,527 | 11 | |
| 1980s | 4,773 | 4,730 | 43 | |
| 1990s | 6,496 | 6,484 | 12 | |
| 2000s | 8,380 | 8,364 | 16 | |
| 2010s | 23,587 | 23,545 | 42 | |
| 2020s | 9,162 | 9,130 | 32 | |
Abel by State
Birth registrations for Abel span all 51 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, Illinois. The lowest are in Vermont, Delaware, District of Columbia. On average, about 1,187 Abels were registered per state.
Abel + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Abel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Abel
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
Abel: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Abel?
We estimate approximately 59,708 people named Abel are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 5,741 Americans share this first name.
Is Abel a common name?
Abel is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 99.2% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 64,639 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Abel most popular?
Abel reached peak popularity in 2015, when 3,254 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Abel is approximately 23 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Abel a male name?
Abel is predominantly male. 99.8% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Abel Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Abel Smith, Abel Johnson, Abel Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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