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.
My daughter is named Ariel and even though we named her primarily for the meaning “Lion of God” and the sprite who strikes a deal for her freedom (I was very sick with a serious illness during my pregnancy and worried for my baby’s health) I do pronounce it “Aerial” or “airy-el” I just feel it’s a bit more natural sounding for an English speaker and I like the association with airiness. I like it’s unisex appeal but I feel it us feminine enough; aren’t water sprites kind of feminine? The sprite in the Tempest is distinctly feminine even if she us historically played by males, and not since the advent of movies. And the association with Sylvia Plath and her horse “at one with the drive.” If she wants to call herself “Ar-ee- el” when she’s older I think that’s lovely. I just feel silly saying it.
Beautiful name for a girl. I think of Ariel Dubois on Medium as well as Ariel the gorgeous girl from Footloose. Ariel and Rachel are my top choices for girl’s names.
This was my first name nerd fantasy. I spent ages 5-13 knowing for sure that I would have a daughter named Ariel after the little mermaid. To this day my mom still reminds me that her first granddaughter needs to be Ariel, although she is on our long list, she has not remained at the top. Her brother was going to be Franscisco, after my favorite football team San Francisco 49ers.. he is not on our list at all.
Ariel is one of the few names that I really like on either gender. Though I do prefer the Arielle spelling for girls. I even like all of the different pronunciations. But growing up I was a little obsessed with The Little Mermaid and I had Ariel pajamas, sheet sets, dolls, etc. so I could never use it.
Oh, you forgot a pop culture reference for Ariel: Ariel DuBois was the name of the oldest daughter on the TV show Medium, which ran for 7 seasons. Ariel, Bridget, and Marie – a lovely named sibset.
Add me to the crowd that says Ariel’s all boy to me! When there’s a clear feminine form, use it please, folks!
That said, my boys know several Ariels, almost all girls (one boy in there) and because the “Little Mermaid” in our house is “The Badly Named Mermaid”, even the boys think it skews masculine. *shrug* That’s us. And I really don’t think Ariel’s ready for a girly reboot. In fact, Ariel’s in the “Kelly Camp”, with Shannon & Morgan for me. All names that clearly need to be used for more Boys in the future. May it actually work that way!
Ariel is so handsome on a boy. I’ve always wondered why Disney chose a male name for their little mermaid.
Eldest step-kid was born the year Little Mermaid came out, so it seems like she’s always had female friends named Ariel. So, I’d expect a female Ariel to be in college (with Jasmine.)
I like Ari, a lot in fact it’s on my “extended” list, but I don’t think I’m ready for Ariel to come back to the boy’s camp.
Ariel to me is male. I really like it on a boy. It is also currently gotten trendy in Poland, on males.
The male Ariel I knew growing up HATED that Disney had feminized his name (we were kids when the Little Mermaid hit) and insisted that Ariel was a male name and the female version would properly be Arielle, with the similar pronunciation, like Daniel/Danielle and Gabriel/Gabrielle.
I think of Ariel (pron. the Disney way) mainly as being the name all my elementary school friends wanted to give their daughters when they grew up, making it pretty trendy/dated for me. I’ve been intrigued by its use for boys with the ar-ee-el pronunciation for ages, though, and I really like the “lion of God” meaning–I hadn’t encountered that before!
I think it’s Hans Christian Andersen who’s responsible for the original fairy tale, though (which would explain the location of the statue).