Male name
Joel
19,230 births (England and Wales, 1996–2025), peaking in 2005. Expression number: 6.
Origin
From Hebrew יוֹאֵל (yo'él, “Yahweh (is) God”). As a medieval French and English given name, it is also from Breton Judicaël (related to Joyce and Jocelyn). Cf. Elijah.From Wiktionary, entry “Joel”, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Do you know a Joel?
Send them the page about their name.
How many babies received it
From the official birth registers.
In England and Wales
Peak in 2005: 978 births. 19,230 births from 1996 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. At its peak, it ranked 62nd among boys' names in 2001. It is still given: 1,318 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales, Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the United States
Peak in 1985: 4,661 births. 282,250 births from 1880 to 2025. A name given steadily, decade after decade, from the 1940s to the 2010s. At its peak, it ranked 65th among boys' names in 1981. It is still given: 8,622 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Social Security Administration, Popular Baby Names, public domain.
In Ireland
Peak in 2009: 22 births. 388 births from 1964 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s. It really came into use around 2005. It is still given: 41 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Central Statistics Office, Irish Babies' Names, CC BY 4.0.
Elsewhere in the world
The name in the birth records of the 10 countries we track. The period covered varies from country to country.
| Country | Births | Period | Best rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 146,960 | 1900–2025 | 16th in 1953 |
| Argentina | 27,877 | 2012–2023 | 95th in 2013 |
| Switzerland | 13,628* | 1915–2025 | — |
| Quebec | 3,683 | 1980–2025 | 56th in 1983 |
| Austria | 1,145 | 1984–2025 | — |
| Berlin | 1,027 | 2012–2023 | 29th in 2012 |
| Belgium | 34 | 2014–2023 | — |
* These are the people living in the country, counted by year of birth, not the number of births.
Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms, Etalab Open Licence 2.0; RENAPER, Nombres propios en Argentina, CC BY 4.0 (the registry doesn't record sex); Federal Statistical Office, First names of the population by year of birth, free use with attribution; Retraite Québec, Banque de prénoms, CC BY 4.0; Statistik Austria, Vornamen, CC BY 4.0; Open Data Berlin, Häufige Vornamen, CC BY 3.0 DE (every name a child carries, not only the first); Statbel, first names of newborns, CC BY 4.0 (one total for the whole period, no yearly breakdown).
The numbers of the name
Each letter has a value: A = 1, B = 2… I = 9, then J = 1 again (Pythagorean method). We add them up, then reduce to a single digit, except 11, 22 and 33.
■ vowel · ■ consonant
Expression
All the letters: talents, the way you act.
6
responsibility, harmony, commitment to others
1 + 6 + 5 + 3 = 15 → 6
Soul
The vowels: what drives you deep down.
11
intuition and inspiration (master number)
6 + 5 = 11
Personality
The consonants: what others notice first.
4
work, structure, stability
1 + 3 = 4
- Digits missing from the name
- 2, 4, 7, 8, 9
- Most frequent digit
- 1 · initiative, independence, beginnings
The meaning of the numbers comes from numerological tradition; it isn't a measure of your personality. A full portrait needs your first and middle names, your last name at birth, and your date of birth. How we calculate
Your name and theirs
The number of each name, and the number of the bond, which comes from adding them together. A symbolic game: what your two names say together, to be read as a metaphor, not as a verdict on your relationship.