girl's name
Azalea
uh-ZAY-lee-uh
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 3
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 12,966
the United States
#278
2025 births
Azalea is a girl's name taken from the flowering shrub, whose botanical name comes from the Greek azaleos, meaning dry. Linnaeus chose it believing the plant preferred dry soil — which turned out to be wrong, since azaleas want moisture.
- Azalea is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 1,109 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,989 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1902.
- 3 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Azalea over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 59 |
| 1910s | 118 |
| 1920s | 127 |
| 1930s | 55 |
| 1940s | 32 |
| 1950s | 81 |
| 1960s | 43 |
| 1970s | 135 |
| 1980s | 162 |
| 1990s | 384 |
| 2000s | 1,094 |
| 2010s | 4,457 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,992 |
What Azalea means
Azalea names the flowering shrub, and beneath that a Greek word meaning dry. The name is a botanist's mistake preserved in Latin: the plant does not in fact thrive in dry ground.
Where Azalea comes from
Azalea comes from the Greek azaleos, dry or parched, chosen by Carl Linnaeus when he classified the genus in the eighteenth century on the understanding that the plants favored dry soil. Gardeners know the opposite: azaleas need consistently moist, acidic ground and suffer badly in drought. Botanists later folded the genus into Rhododendron, so azalea survives as a common name rather than a scientific one. As a given name it belongs to the nineteenth-century wave of flower names alongside Violet, Iris and Daisy, and appears in our records from 1902.
Azalea in use
Azalea appears in our records from 1902 and reached its highest recorded use in 2025.
How popular is Azalea?
In 2025, Azalea was given to 1,109 babies in the United States, ranking #278 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Azalea is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Azalea is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Azaléa | Azaléa is a rare spelling of Azalea, written with an acute accent and recorded about 40 times, mostly in France. | 40 |
Names that peaked alongside Azalea
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Azalea also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Azalea over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Azalea
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Azalea in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Azalea
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Azalea — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Azalea
What does the name Azalea mean?
Dry, from the Greek azaleos. Linnaeus named the shrub believing it preferred dry soil, which is not actually the case.
Is Azalea a flower name?
Yes, and it belongs with Violet, Iris and Daisy in the wave of botanical names that entered English use in the nineteenth century.
How do you pronounce Azalea?
uh-ZAY-lee-uh, with the stress on the second syllable.
How popular is the name Azalea?
In 2025, Azalea was given to 1,109 babies in the United States, ranking #278 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Azalea a girl's or a boy's name?
Azalea is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Azalea?
Azalea has 3 syllables.
When was Azalea most popular?
Azalea peaked in 2025, when 1,109 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Azalea?
Azalea is usually shortened to Léa.
Is Azalea a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Azalea currently ranks #278 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.