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Ansel

#1,138 in 2025Boys' name

English surname transferred into given-name use

Ansel has been given to 4,811 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #1,138 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 186 recorded.

Babies named Ansel, 2025

1 in 17,800

Ansel over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ansel: meaning, origin, and history

English surname transferred into given-name use

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ansel means

Ansel is a given name.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Ansel is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈæn.səl/ for Ansel.

The naming story behind Ansel

Ansel is a given name adopted from English surname. This establishes the immediate naming route. A surname transfer is different from a direct translation of the modern given-name spelling; the family name may have its own earlier derivation.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,801 boys were recorded with the name Ansel between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 186 in 2025; its best national rank was #540 in 1893.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,179 in 2020 to #1,138 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,175 in 2015 to #1,138 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Ansel between 1918 and 2016. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1918; its best national rank was #4,850 in 1918.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Ansel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 17,800
186 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 9,180
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,138
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
12,355 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ansel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5003%

Put another way: gather 12,355 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ansel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ansels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ansel was born before 2005 — so the typical Ansel is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
25.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
54.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
3,550
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 25.1% of all recorded uses (1,204).

Is Ansel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+148
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+41
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+37
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.18×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (186)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#540
1893

Spellings of Ansel

Ansel is not the most common spelling — Daniel is, with 70.1% against Ansel's 0.17%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Ansel is used

Across 2016–2025, Ansel was most concentrated in Colorado — about 1 in 3,448 boys, against 1 in 12,431 across all states with data. It was least common in North Carolina (1 in 100,000).

129 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Colorado1 in 3,448
  2. 2Oregon1 in 4,348
  3. 3Washington1 in 5,263
  4. 4California1 in 6,667
  5. 5Montana1 in 7,143
  6. 6Wisconsin1 in 7,692
  7. 7New York1 in 9,091
  8. 8Arizona1 in 14,286

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Ansel around the world

Where Ansel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2003–2025
    #2,014
    in 2025
  • France
    2016–2025
    #5,872
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2000–2024
    #1,331
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Ansel

People whose public names include Ansel, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Ansel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,138
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 41
Best rank ever
#540
1893
Peak year
2025
186 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,801
Count in 2025
186

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,850
1918
Peak year
1918
5 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
2016
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Ansel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

AnsonEdselAnshAkselAnselmoHanselDieselAnsenRusselAnshulBaselAnsarAnselmBasselAnsleyMarselErselHasselManselHerselAnsilJoselAxselEarsel

Names with a curve like Ansel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Ansel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

JethroEllisonWestRushGrayHazenJonesTheodorGentrySmithOrsonLinus

Sibling names for Ansel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Ansel

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