Axel Boy
How popular is Axel?
#79 boy name in 2025
4,140 baby boys were named Axel in the US in 2025, making it the 79th most popular boy name. Another 8 girls got the name (#10,913 for girls).
Axel popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #79 for boys (▼ 1 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 4,140 boys, 8 girls |
| 10-year trend | Rising (+27% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #123 in 2015, #72 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 2020 (4,667 boys) |
| Highest rank | #71 in 2023 |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 3% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Axel counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Axel family of names ranked #83 for boys in 2025 (#84 the year before), with 4,426 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Axel | 4,140 | 94% |
| Aksel | 155 | 4% |
| Axell | 75 | 2% |
| Axyl | 23 | 1% |
| Axil | 7 | 0% |
| Aksil | 6 | 0% |
| Acxel | 9 | 0% |
| Axzel | 6 | 0% |
| Akzel | 5 | 0% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Axel is most popular
Babies named Axel per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Wyoming: 6.7 per 1,000 (39 boys)
- Delaware: 4.7 per 1,000 (71 boys)
- North Dakota: 4.4 per 1,000 (75 boys)
- Nevada: 4.3 per 1,000 (247 boys)
- District of Columbia: 4.1 per 1,000 (60 boys)
Axel by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 163 | #336 |
| 1890s | 165 | #371 |
| 1900s | 86 | #709 |
| 1910s | 291 | #854 |
| 1920s | 232 | #1,101 |
| 1930s | 89 | #1,837 |
| 1940s | 81 | #2,181 |
| 1950s | 85 | #1,837 |
| 1960s | 168 | #1,440 |
| 1970s | 222 | #1,434 |
| 1980s | 446 | #948 |
| 1990s | 1,534 | #794 |
| 2000s | 10,613 | #258 |
| 2010s | 31,809 | #84 |
| 2020s | 26,475 | #71 |
Boy names about as popular as Axel
Questions
- Is Axel a boy or girl name?
- Axel is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Axel were boys.
- How popular is the name Axel?
- 4,140 baby boys were named Axel in the US in 2025, making it the 79th most popular boy name. Another 8 girls got the name (#10,913 for girls).
- When was Axel most popular?
- Axel peaked in 2020, when 4,667 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #71 in 2023.
- How many people are named Axel?
- 72,668 babies have been named Axel in the US since 1880. We estimate about 71,017 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 9.
- Where is Axel most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Axel was most common in Wyoming, at 6.7 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.