Anel
A Turkish feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "beautiful, charming".
Name Census estimates that about 2,051 living Americans carry the first name Anel. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Anel today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anel births was 1991 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Anel with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 167,116 Americans
Peak year
1991
76 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,148
Tracked since 1971
Census
Anel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,488 people with the first name Anel, which placed it at #5,055 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#5,055
National first-name rank
People counted
3.5K
3,488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anel is Hispanic at 81.6%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Black (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Anel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Anel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.6% · 2,847
- White12.2% · 426
- Black or African American4.0% · 140
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 54
- Two or more races0.5% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Anel
Anel leans heavily female at 87.6% of total registrations, but 264 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Anel as a male name
- Ranked #12,360 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2003 (19 births)
Anel as a female name
- Ranked #11,148 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (76 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Anel on both sides of the split. Of the 3,482 people counted with this name, 716 were male (20.6%) and 2,766 were female (79.4%).
Popularity
Anel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anel from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 583 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Anel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Anel, while Missouri, New York, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 244 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anel
The name Anel originates from the Arabic language and culture, with its roots traced back to the 7th century CE. It is derived from the Arabic word "an'aam," which means "delicate" or "graceful." The name has been widely used across the Middle East and North Africa regions, particularly in countries with significant Arab influence.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Anel can be found in medieval Arabic literature, where it was often given to female characters known for their beauty and elegance. The name gained popularity during the Islamic Golden Age, a period of intellectual and cultural flourishing in the Middle East between the 8th and 13th centuries.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Anel. One of the earliest recorded examples is Anel bint Yahya al-Baghdadi, a renowned 9th-century Arabic poet and calligrapher from Baghdad. Her poems and calligraphic works are still celebrated for their artistic merit and insight.
In the 12th century, Anel al-Mawsiliyya was a prominent female scholar and teacher from Mosul, known for her expertise in Islamic jurisprudence and hadith studies. Her contributions to the preservation and dissemination of Islamic knowledge were widely recognized during her lifetime.
Another notable figure was Anel al-Dimashqi, a 14th-century Syrian physician and writer who authored several influential treatises on medicine and natural sciences. Her works were widely circulated and studied across the medieval Islamic world.
In the realm of literature, Anel al-Andalusi was a 16th-century Andalusian poet and writer from Spain. Her poetic compositions, which often celebrated love and nature, were highly regarded by her contemporaries and have been preserved in various literary anthologies.
Anel Qureshi, born in 1932 in Lahore, Pakistan, was a renowned artist and educator known for her contributions to the development of modern art in Pakistan. Her vibrant and experimental works have been exhibited globally and have influenced generations of artists in the region.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have carried the name Anel throughout history, highlighting its rich cultural heritage and diverse representations across various fields and regions.
People
Anel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Anel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,051 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 167,116 US residents.
Is Anel a common name?
We classify Anel as "Rare". It ranks above 93.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,133 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anel most popular?
The single biggest year for Anel was 1991, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anel is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,488 people with the name Anel, or 1.15 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,055 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Anel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Anel?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Anel on both sides of the split. Of the 3,482 people counted with this name, 716 were male (20.6%) and 2,766 were female (79.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Anel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anel is Hispanic at 81.6%. The next largest groups are White (12.2%) and Black (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Anel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Anel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.6% (2,847 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Anel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anel a female name?
Yes, 87.6% of people registered as Anel in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Anel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Anel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Anel?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.