Arielle

About Arielle

Arielle is the French feminine form of Ariel and an established English variant, meaning “lion of God.” Its -elle ending gives the Hebrew name a distinctive French shape. The wider family has biblical and Shakespearean connections, while snowboarder Arielle Gold provides a prominent modern bearer of this exact spelling.

Meaning and related forms

The Hebrew elements are ari, meaning “lion,” and el, referring to God. Arielle preserves the meaning of Ariel while using a feminine form in French.

In the Old Testament, Ariel also appears as another name for Jerusalem. That religious and place-name history belongs to the older form, before the later French development.

Ariella is a related English variant. Its final a gives it a different ending from Arielle, while both remain recognizable within the same family.

French Arielle is approximately ah-RYEL, with two syllables and the final e silent. Ari could be used as an informal shortening taken from the opening. The double l gives the ending a familiar French appearance without changing the underlying name's Hebrew origin.

Ariel in The Tempest

Shakespeare used Ariel for the spirit who serves Prospero in The Tempest. The play places Prospero on an island with his daughter Miranda, Ariel, and Caliban.

Ariel carries out magical tasks, including creating the storm that brings other characters to the island. The spirit's service is closely connected with the hope of freedom.

This gives the wider Ariel family a literary association with air, music, transformation, and release. It is a character connection distinct from the biblical meaning: the name itself still means “lion of God.”

Arielle's spelling is not the one used in Shakespeare's play, but its relationship with Ariel makes that older literary history relevant to the name family.

Arielle Gold and snowboarding

American snowboarder Arielle Gold won the women's halfpipe world title in 2013. She later took bronze in the same event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Her earlier international results included two silver medals at the 2012 Winter Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, one in halfpipe and the other in slopestyle.

Those results show a career that moved from youth competition to senior world and Olympic medals. The halfpipe connection gives Arielle a specific sporting identity, associated with technical runs and aerial performance on snow.

Gold's public first name retains the -elle spelling, making her a useful exact-name example alongside the older Ariel traditions.

American popularity

Arielle's largest published annual count and strongest United States ranking for girls came in 1991, when 1,631 births placed it at #183.

The name appeared for 479 girls in 2000 and 591 in 2010. In 2025, 618 girls received it, ranking #486.

Its recent use has therefore been much lower than the early-1990s peak, while remaining a regular part of American naming. These figures count Arielle separately from Ariel and Ariella, despite the forms' shared history.

How popular is Arielle?

In 2025, Arielle ranked #486 among girls in the United States, with 618 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1962; its largest annual count was 1,631 in 1991. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.