The baby name Ariel splashed into movie theaters back in 1989 and quickly climbed the popularity charts.
Thanks to Fran for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME ARIEL MEAN?
Ariel comes from the Hebrew. It means “lion of God.” Ari is also used independently to mean lion; -el is the same syllable shared by favorites like Elizabeth, Gabriel, and Elijah.
That’s quite a fierce meaning, but also a pretty traditional source for a personal name.
In the Old Testament, Ariel is also used as a name for the city of Jerusalem.
It’s one of the top names for boys in Israel today.
LITERARY FAVORITE
So the baby name Ariel has a long history of use. But it’s not just the Bible. Writers have embraced it for centuries.
Shakespeare gave the name to a spirit in The Tempest. The spirit is typically portrayed as male, but not always.
There’s also:
- A (male) fallen angel in John Milton’sParadise Lost
- Belinda’s protector in AlexanderPope’s The Rape of the Lock is also male, and also called Ariel
- TS Eliot’s Ariel poems were published between the 1920s and 50s; they were included in part of a larger series of poems by the same name
- Sylvia Plath gave the name to a poem in 1965
It’s possible Shakespeare and other writers borrowed the name from the Bible.
Or it might’ve been chosen because it’s close to the Latin aerius, meaning airy. Aerial has suggested a grace and beauty since at least the 1600s, around the time Shakespeare was dreaming up his character.
ARIEL IN LATIN AMERICA
Speaking of Shakespeare, in the year 1900, Uruguayan author José Enrique Rodó penned an essay titled Ariel. He appealed to Latin American youth, encouraging them to embrace the classical western tradition.
Ariel represented all things true, beatiful, and good. Fellow Tempest character Caliban stood for the opposite, the dark side of human nature.
The Mexican Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences gives the Ariel Awards, their equivalent of the Oscars, annually. The awards’ name comes from Rodó’s inspiring essay.
ARIEL IN THE 1970s and 80s
The baby name Ariel entered the girls’ US Top 1000 in 1978, well before Disney’s movie debuted.
One possible reason? One-hit wonder DeanFriedman’s quirky 1977 love song “Ariel” about falling in love in Paramus, New Jersey.
In 1984, Footloose gave us rebellious preacher’s daughter, Ariel Moore. The movie was a smash hit, launching Kevin Bacon’s career and a wildly successful soundtrack.
So Ariel wasn’t really new at all, not even for females.
UNDER THE SEA
And then along came Disney.
The story of a mermaid who falls for a mortal, trades her tail for legs, and lives happily ever after – more or less – is not new.
Except the character typically didn’t have a given name of any kind. When Hans Christian Anderson wrote his enduring version of the fairytale in 1837, he simply referred to her as “the little mermaid.”
It’s inspired adaptations for the opera and ballet, as well as movies, across generations. There’s a famous statue in Copenhagen. But most of the time, the mermaid remains nameless.
That changed in 1989, when Disney rebooted the fish tale with unforgettable songs and fresh animation. She became Ariel, maybe because she longs to leave the water for the air. They might’ve thought of William Shakespeare’s play. Possibly the name just felt right to them.
The character is loving and rebellious, willing to risk big to get what she wants. She’s kind, and her obsession with the human world leads to fascinating habits and preferences, like the dinner fork she uses to comb her hair.
A 2023 live action remake of the movie put Ariel back on parents’ radar, but it didn’t really shift our perception of this name. It’s both a stylish choice independent of the film, and arguably the most famous mermaid name of them all.
GENDER-NEUTRAL ARIEL; FEMININE ARIELLA
Since the success of Ariel, variations including Ariela, Ariella, and Arielle have also trended in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as elsewhere in the English-speaking world.
Some, like Arielle, seem like a deliberate attempt to create a feminine form, a lioness to Ari’s lion. Or maybe they’re just a path to nickname Ellie.
After all, the name’s Hebrew roots are shared by similar male/female name pairs, like Gabriel/Gabrielle.
Our enthusiam for ends-with-elle names was early stage when we first met the red-headed adventurer in 1989, too.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME ARIEL?
Exactly how popular is the baby name Ariel?
Ariel has been used in small numbers for boys and girls alike since then 19th and early 20th centuries.
Some of that use was probably exclusive to Jewish communities.
But by 1967, the baby name Ariel ranked in the US boys’ Top 1000. It debuted on the girls’ charts in 1978.
Enthusiasm for Ariel was growing through the 1980s. But after the hit Disney flick? The name entered the US Top 100 at #94.
Forget Biblical texts and literary inspiration. We were wild about this smash hit movie heroine’s name.
As of 2024, Ariel has fallen in use, but still ranks #299 for girls. Ariella, at #196, is more popular. For boys, Ariel stands at a respectable #511.
LITERARY AND ETHEREAL
Literary and ethereal Ariel is so much more than a Disney princess name. The animated character made it more familiar and accessible, but it was already climbing in use.
All these years later, this might be the perfect baby name for parents seeking something light and lovely, with a bedrock of meaning and long history of use behind it, too.
What do you think of the baby name Ariel?
First published on April 25, 2012, this post was revised on March 14, 2026.
I can still hear Kevin Bacon and John Lithgow saying “Ariel”. That will forever be my reference. 🙂
From wikipedia: “The Little Mermaid” is a popular fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. Written originally as a ballet, the tale was first published in 1837 and has been adapted to various media including musical theatre and animated film.
In the end of the story, “she has turned into a spirit, a daughter of the air.” Perhaps that it why her name was chosen as such.
Ditto Photoquilty & SkyeRhyly! Ariel, pronounced ar-ee-el, is firmly male.
Oh, it’s jus the aerial pronunciation I object to. I think ah-ree-EL can be a girl’s name as well as a boy’s name. I prefer it on girls, as a matter of fact. But that might be owing to my having grown up in a Jewish Brooklyn neighborhood and meeting a few male Ariels I didn’t like.
As a kid, I knew a few female Ariels. But when I got to (a mostly Jewish) college, there were several male Ariels, many of whom went by Ari. I think I prefer it on a boy, though I wouldn’t use it because the Little Mermaid has feminized it a bit.
I’m Ariele. I was named after the Dean Friedman song. No one ever confuses my name with a boy’s name, but I do get endless comments about it. I get asked if I was named after the Little Mermaid all the time- I was born 10 years after it came out- and occasionally The Tempest.
Pronunciation is the biggest issue with my name… My name is pronounced air-ee-ELL, not Ahr-ee-ell, or Air-ee-ul. Given how many people mispronounce my name after I’ve just introduced myself, I think it’s a hard name to get right. Even in The Little Mermaid, Sebastian pronounces her name one way, and everyone else pronounces it a different way.
Other girls I have encountered that spell their name “Ariel” have tended to be Jewish, so it seems to me to maybe be a more pure version of their name for their religion- I think that’s nice.
It seems like such a long time since I suggested this name! The Little Mermaid feels like it has been on a stream of constant repitition for years in my house (and will be for years to come I’m sure, with our fourth girl due in October) and although it is a male name I do like it for a girl, only if it is spelt Arielle though. I don’t think I’d ever use it however since it’s not really our style.
It seems like such a long time since I suggested this name! The Little Mermaid feels like it has been on a stream of constant repitition for years in my house (and will be for years to come I’m sure, with our fourth girl due in October) that although it is a male name I do like it for a girl, only if it is spelt Arielle though. I don’t think I’d use it however since it’s not really our style.
For me, its like naming your daughter Daniel or Gabriel, when there are feminine options out there.
my two beautful daughters are rachel and ariel….ariel just like ariel in footloose, medium, grumpy old men , starting out in the evening, in america, ariel winter, ariel waller, ariel gade, ariel and zoey…all beautiful feminine women 🙂
I hate this name on a girl, I see it only as a male name (with this spelling). It’s not only a male name in Israel, its a male name in pretty much all of of central and south America, as well as most of Europe. Its also pronounced ar-ee-el in those countries, not air-yul.
Anyway, for me, its another one of those names that was stolen by the girls, when there is a spelling like Arielle or Ariella that could’ve been used instead. The fact that its still used on boys, (its in the 600s for boys) gives me hope that someday it’ll be more popular for boys since hispanic parents are still giving their boys this name and will probably continue to do so.
You know its quite funny because my name is Ariel. I know more females named Ariel then men. Second, you’re quite rude you know that…. you just basically said every girl named Ariel sounds like a dude…. sad… some people these days… so judgmental. Its a very unique name and I LOVE MY NAME AND I AM PROUD OF IT! Hate all you want 🙂 ARIEL THE LITTLE MERMAID! haha. I’m done now. Peace.
I hate to be picky, but The Little Mermaid was written by Hans Christian Anderson and was not a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Anderson was Danish; the Grimm brothers German, which is why Copehagen has her statue.
BUT, Ariel does appeal to me. As a child of the ’80s though, I don’t think I could overcome “naming her after the mermaid.”
Oh, wow – you’re not being picky, I’m just being wrong, wrong, wrong … I’m fixing it now, and thank you.
It always annoyed me that the mermaid ‘s name was pronounced aerial.