girl's name
Rachel
RAY-chel
- Origin Hebrew
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 697,767
the United States
#250
2025 births
Rachel is a girl's name from Hebrew meaning ewe, borne by Jacob's wife in Genesis. With 675,271 recorded births it is by some distance the most-used name currently sitting on the edge of the Irish top 200, ranking 186th there.
- Rachel is a name of Hebrew origin.
- Peaked in 1985, when 16,437 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,706 babies in the United States is given this name.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Rachel 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 | 2,128 |
| 1890s | 3,284 |
| 1900s | 3,979 |
| 1910s | 10,526 |
| 1920s | 14,274 |
| 1930s | 12,366 |
| 1940s | 13,464 |
| 1950s | 16,849 |
| 1960s | 26,881 |
| 1970s | 78,040 |
| 1980s | 147,336 |
| 1990s | 149,427 |
| 2000s | 68,521 |
| 2010s | 21,093 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 7,580 |
What Rachel means
Rachel means ewe, a female sheep. The pastoral image is literal rather than figurative: the biblical Rachel is introduced tending her father's flock, so the name describes the life she is first shown living.
Where Rachel comes from
Rachel is the Hebrew rachel, a ewe, and the name is given in Genesis to the younger daughter of Laban, whom Jacob works fourteen years to marry. The narrative supports the meaning directly: she is a keeper of her father's sheep when Jacob first sees her at the well. The name passed into Christian Europe through the Latin Vulgate but stayed uncommon among Christians until the Reformation, when the reformers' turn to the Hebrew scriptures brought a wave of Old Testament names into English use. Among Jewish families it was in continuous use throughout, which gives Rachel a much longer unbroken history in one community than in the other.
Rachel in use
Rachel ranks 186th in Ireland on 24 births, 250th in the United States on 1,225, 323rd in France, 394th in England and Wales and 453rd in Scotland, so it charts in six of the seven markets we track. It peaked in the United States in 1985, when 16,437 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. Its 675,271 lifetime births are the largest total of any name currently entering the Irish top 200.
How popular is Rachel?
In 2025, Rachel was given to 1,225 babies in the United States, ranking #250 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Rachel 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 Rachel is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Rachël | Rachël is a rare spelling of Rachel, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 5 times, mostly in France. | 5 |
Names that peaked alongside Rachel
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Rachel also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Rachel over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Rachel
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.
Rachel 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 Rachel
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Rachel — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Rachel
What does the name Rachel mean?
Ewe, a female sheep — the biblical Rachel is introduced as a shepherdess.
Is it Rachel or Rachael?
Rachel is the older and far more common spelling. Rachael is an English variant that adds an a.
Is Rachel a Jewish name?
It has been in continuous Jewish use since antiquity and entered wider Christian use only after the Reformation.
How popular is Rachel?
186th in Ireland and 250th in the United States, down from a 1985 peak of 16,437 American births.
Is Rachel a girl's or a boy's name?
Rachel is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Rachel?
Rachel has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Rachel?
Rachel is usually shortened to Rae and Shelly.
Is Rachel a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Rachel currently ranks #186 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.