girl's name
Itzel
eet-SEL
- Origin Maya
- Gender Girl
- Letters 5
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 21,476
the United States
#359
2025 births
Itzel is a girl's name of Maya origin whose meaning is genuinely contested. Rainbow lady, dew, and a connection to the moon goddess Ix Chel have all been offered, and Maya scholarship does not settle between them.
- Itzel is a name of Maya origin.
- Peaked in 2005, when 984 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 3,900 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1977.
Itzel over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1970s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 5 |
| 1980s | 175 |
| 1990s | 2,573 |
| 2000s | 7,652 |
| 2010s | 6,791 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 4,235 |
What Itzel means
Itzel is most often given as rainbow lady, and also as dew or nectar. The readings rest on competing readings of the Maya element itz, and none has been established over the others.
Where Itzel comes from
Itzel is a modern Mexican name drawing on Maya vocabulary. The element itz covers a range of glossy or flowing substances — dew, nectar, sap, resin — and appears in the name of the deity Ix Chel, associated with the moon, weaving and childbirth, whose own name is variously read as lady rainbow. Whether Itzel descends from that name, from itz alone, or was formed in the twentieth century from Maya elements is not settled. What is clear from our records is its recency: it appears in 1977 and rose through the 1990s, concentrated almost entirely in Mexican and Mexican-American families.
Itzel in use
Itzel charts in only one of the seven countries we track and peaked in 2005.
How popular is Itzel?
In 2025, Itzel was given to 850 babies in the United States, ranking #359 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Itzel 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.
Names that peaked alongside Itzel
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Itzel also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Itzel over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Itzel 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 Itzel
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Itzel — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Itzel
What does the name Itzel mean?
It is contested. Rainbow lady, dew and nectar are all offered, resting on different readings of the Maya element itz.
Is Itzel a Mayan name?
It draws on Maya vocabulary and is used almost entirely by Mexican families, though whether it is an inherited name or a modern formation is unresolved.
How do you pronounce Itzel?
eet-SEL, with the stress on the second syllable.
How popular is the name Itzel?
In 2025, Itzel was given to 850 babies in the United States, ranking #359 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Itzel a girl's or a boy's name?
Itzel is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Itzel most popular?
Itzel peaked in 2005, when 984 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
Is Itzel a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Itzel currently ranks #359 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.