Presented by

The first name 
Gabriel

Gabriel is a male first name. In very rare cases it is also used for girls.

The name Gabriel is very popular!

The first name Gabriel is one of the top 100 most popular boys names in the US – currently at #26 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Gabriel, accounting for approximately 0.50 % of all newborn boys. In total, there are currently 375,511 people – children, adults and seniors – named Gabriel living in the United States, which is approximately 0.11 % of the entire population.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Gabriel

What does the name 
Gabriel mean?

The first name Gabriel comes from the Hebrew and means ‘God is a strong man’ or also ‘God is my strength’.

Interesting facts! probably the most famous religious bearer of the name is the archangel Gabriel. He is part of the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran.

Gabriel has quite a few famous namesake

A Characterful Actor

Gabriel Byrne (*1950)
The Irish actor Gabriel Byrne started his career on theatre stage in Dublin and later proceeded on Broadway. He starred in films such as 'Little Women' (1994), 'Smilla’s Sense of Snow' (1997), 'Enemy of the State' (1998), 'Stigmata' (1999) or 'Hereditary' (2018). From 2008 to 2010, Byrne starred as psychotherapist Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO series 'In Treatment'. It earned him a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy nominations in 2009.

A Fluffy Comedian

Gabriel Iglesias (*1976)
Gabriel Jess Iglesias, also known as "Fluffy", is an American comedian and actor. He risked a lot for his career as a comedian: he lost both his apartment and his car when he quit his job to become a comedian. However, in the early 2000s he establish himself in the scene through various late night shows. He often makes fun of his weight, for which he calls himself "Fluffy." Iglesias appeared in many shows and movies such as "Magic Mike " (2012) or "Modern Family" (2018). He also has his own Netflix show.

A Nobel Laureate in Literature

Gabriel Garc_xD860_MᲱuez (1927 - 2014)
Gabriel Garc_xD860_MᲱuez was a Colombian writer, journalist and Nobel laureate in literature. Garc_xD860_MᲱuez popularized the so-called "Magical Realism", which integrates magical elements into realistic situations. Many of his works focus on isolation. Among the best-known pieces are "One Hundred Years of Solitude" (1967), "Chronicle of a Death Foretold" (1981), and "Love in the Time of Cholera" (1985).

An Archangel

Gabriel
In the Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an archangel. He was first described in the Hebrew Bible where he appears to the prophet Daniel to explain his visions. Alongside archangel Michael, Gabriel is described as the guardian angel of Israel, defending its people against the angels of the other nations. In the Gospel of Luke, Gabriel appears to Virgin Mary, foretelling the birth of Jesus.

Go on a journey to places 
with your name

When you hear the name Gabriel, you might first think of people. But did you know that there are also places with the name Gabriel? Are you also called Gabriel? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...

You can pause...

at a section of the Mississippi River in St. Gabriel. It is a city in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, with about 6,500 inhabitants. It received its city designation in 2001.

You can go flyfishing...

on San Gabriel River in Texas - not to be confused with the river of the same name in California. Including North-, Russell-, Middle- und South-Forks, it measures about 120 miles.

Gabriel -
someone you can count on

Gabriel is the epitome of persistance. Every single year since first names have been registered in the United States, parents have come up with the idea of naming their son Gabriel. This means that several boys and men named Gabriel have witnessed major events such as the first Nobel Prize ceremony, the moon landing, the release of the first cell phone, or the turn of the millennium. The first name Gabriel has reached its best rank of 21 several times, most recently in 2010. Moreover, the name has been in the top 100 numerous times. This makes Gabriel one of the most popular names of all time.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Gabriel was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Gabriel in 2022 - still quite popular

Gabriel will be Gabriel. Like every other year, there were newborns named Gabriel in 2022 – in fact 7,200 to be precise, confirming Gabriel is still a very popular first name. In this most recent year for which US-wide statistics are available, the name ranked #39 among all boys‘ names. Incidentally, the least popular year for Gabriel was 1892, when only 10 baby boys were named Gabriel.

Gabriel -
well known in all states of the USA, most popular in New Mexico

There are only 386 different male names registered in every single state in the U.S., and Gabriel is one of them. However, Gabriel is not equally widespread in all states, but people in New Mexico seem to particularly fancy this name – the 5,532 men called Gabriel who live here are 0,598% of all male residents and push their name up to #29 in our SmartGenius statistics, easily placing it in the top 100 most common male names in New Mexico. If you look at all the states in the USA together, you can currently find as many as 375,511 people with the name Gabriel. Across all regions and age groups, this lands Gabriel on position 85 in our SmartGenius ranking of the top male names – of course, the current popularity as a baby name for newborns looks somewhat different, as you can see from the statistics above.

Gabriel has 7 letters 
and begins with a G

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter G is not really common as a first letter for boys' names: only 2.8% of all common boys' names in the US begin with G. By the way, the most common first letters of boys' names are J, A and D, while X, U and Q are the least common initials of boys' names.

With seven letters, the name Gabriel has a typical length for first names in the US. In fact, 26% of all common first names consist of exactly seven letters. 52% of all first names are shorter, while 22% have eight letters or more. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

That means that with 2.8% of all boys' names beginning with a G, this initial letter is less common than the other letters on average. Nevertheless, there are boys' names with G that are quite popular, the most common at present is George.

Other names with 
G, a, b, r, i, e and l

If you take all the letters in the name Gabriel – G, a, b, r, i, e and l – and put them together again, you can form other names, such as Gabreil or others.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Gabriel

If your name is Gabriel and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Gabriel

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Gabriel, you can simply say:

Goat

Apple

Butterfly

Rocket

Igloo

Elephant

Lion

This is how the name Gabriel is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Gabriel in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Gabriel

Gabriel

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Gabriel

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Gabriel is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

G
A
B
R
I
E
L

Have you ever waved the name Gabriel

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

G
A
B
R
I
E
L

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Gabriel sounds like this: