unisex name
Noel
noh-EL
- Origin French
- Gender Unisex
- Syllables 2
- Letters 4
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 130,813
the United States
#478
2025 births
Noel means Christmas, and its American peak was 2014 — the most recent peak of any name in this group by a wide margin. It charts in five markets, and 12 percent of births in our records are female.
- Noel is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in 2014, when 1,107 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,186 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Noel over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1880s 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 |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 95 |
| 1890s | 155 |
| 1900s | 307 |
| 1910s | 1,481 |
| 1920s | 2,299 |
| 1930s | 3,762 |
| 1940s | 4,456 |
| 1950s | 4,551 |
| 1960s | 5,952 |
| 1970s | 6,942 |
| 1980s | 7,267 |
| 1990s | 7,658 |
| 2000s | 7,688 |
| 2010s | 9,479 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 5,288 |
What Noel means
Noel means Christmas, or birthday. The Latin behind it means relating to birth, and French narrowed it to one particular birth before English borrowed it back.
Where Noel comes from
Noel is the French Noël, Christmas, from the Latin natalis — relating to birth, from nasci, to be born. The narrowing is the interesting part: natalis dies meant simply a birthday, and the Church's use of it for the Nativity was specific enough that French dropped the general sense entirely. The same root gives natal, native, nation and the Italian Natale. The diaeresis in Noël marks the two vowels as separate syllables, and English drops it while keeping the pronunciation.
Noel in use
Noel peaked in the United States in 2014, when 1,107 babies were registered — the most recent peak of any name in this group — and our data marks it stable. It now ranks 424th in Ireland on 9 births, 478th in the United States on 792, 598th in England and Wales on 65, 705th in Scotland and 2470th in France on 15, across 130,813 lifetime births in six of the seven markets we track. About 12 percent of recorded births are female.
How popular is Noel?
In 2025, Noel was given to 792 babies in the United States, ranking #478 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Noel 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 Noel is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Noël | Noël is a rare spelling of Noel, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 51,765 times, mostly in France. | 51,765 |
Names that peaked alongside Noel
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Noel also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Noel over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Noel 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 Noel
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Noel — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Noel
What does the name Noel mean?
Christmas — the French Noël, from the Latin natalis, relating to birth.
Did Noel originally mean birthday?
The Latin did. French narrowed it to one particular birth and dropped the general sense.
Is Noel a girls' name?
For about 12 percent of the births in our records, often spelled Noelle.
How popular is Noel?
478th in the United States, and its peak was as recent as 2014.
How many syllables are in Noel?
Noel has 2 syllables.
Is Noel a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Noel currently ranks #424 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.