She’s Disney’s red-headed mermaiden, but there’s far more to this lovely appellation.
Thanks to Fran for suggesting Ariel as our Baby Name of the Day.
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, but the idea of her having a given name is relatively novel. Hans Christian Anderson simply referred to her as “the little mermaid.” The same is true of the statue in Copenhagen.
That changed in 1989, when Disney rebooted the fish tale with sparky songs and animation. She became Ariel, sister to Aquata, Andrina, Arista, Attina, Adella, and Alana. Disney’s writers have never revealed their thinking, but possible origins are plentiful:
- The little mermaid might have spent her days with crustaceans, but her name means “lion of God” in Hebrew. It’s a brave, bold meaning, one appropriate for a girl who goes on a daring adventure.
- The Old Testament used Ariel as another name for Jerusalem. There’s also a mention of an angel called Ariel in the Book of Enoch, though it is not considered canonical by most Christians.
- Shakespeare gave the name to a spirit in The Tempest. The spirit is typically portrayed as male, but not always.
After the Bard, Ariel continued to be used for various spirits and angels in English literature. He’s a fallen angel in John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and he’s a sylph, and protector of Belinda in Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock.
It may be that Ariel was mixed up with aerial – from the Latin aerius – airy. Others have suggested that Shakespeare and company were familiar with the Book of Enoch. Or perhaps it was simply that the idea of faeries and elves and sprites was still very much present, even in Renaissance Europe. There are references to Ariel as a common name for a water sprite, but I can’t confirm the earliest – or, indeed, any definite – use.
Ariel remains a popular masculine given name in Israel, like former prime minister Ariel Sharon. In 1978, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank was established and named Ariel. The same year, Ariel entered the US popularity charts for the first time, at #895.
But I suspect a pop song gets credit for Ariel’s introduction. One-hit wonder Dean Friedman recorded quirky love song “Ariel” in 1977. Then came:
- Footloose gave us rebellious preacher’s daughter, Ariel Moore, in 1984.
- And then Disney’s mermaid … which pushed Ariel into the US Top 100 for three years.
At the same Ariel was on the rise, the actress Mariel Hemingway was at her most popular. Her name can be linked to the evergreen Mary, but she’s named after a Cuban port where her dad and his dad – Ernest Hemingway – used to go fishing. And, of course, ends-in-el and -elle names for girls were about to take off.
Today Ariel stands at #213, many spaces below Isabella and Gabrielle. Arielle and Ariella are also in the US Top 1000, along with similar-sounding choices like Briella.
Overall, there’s more than enough story to offset the associations with a Disney princess, and there’s much to like about this literary, ethereal appellation.
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).