Name Awesome

Biel

#5,420 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Gabriel

Biel has been given to 85 babies in the U.S. since 2012. In 2025 it ranked #5,420 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 20 recorded.

Babies named Biel, 2025

1 in 195,000

Biel over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Biel: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Gabriel

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Biel means

Biel is a short form of Gabriel.

Meaning behind the documented name family

Biel is a short form of Gabriel. Gabriel has more than one origin or interpretation.

Origin, language, and formation

Biel is used in Catalan and Portuguese.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Gabriel and Grabiel.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Catalan, Biel is pronounced [biˈe̞l].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 85 boys were recorded with the name Biel between 2012 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 20 in 2024; its best national rank was #4,910 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #9,690 in 2020 to #5,420 in 2025.

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 Biel?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 195,000
17 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 100,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,420
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
135,172 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Biel 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 135,172 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Biel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Biels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Biel was born before 2023 — so the typical Biel is around 2 today.

Median birth year
2023
About 2 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
87.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
85
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 87.1% of all recorded uses (74).

Is Biel 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
−510
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+4,270
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
85.0%
Peak was 2024 (20)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,910
2024

Spellings of Biel

Biel is not the most common spelling — Billy is, with 26.6% against Biel's <0.01%.

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.

Biel around the world

Where Biel 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
    2017–2020
    #4,608
    in 2020
  • France
    2015–2025
    #6,138
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2018–2018
    #2,905
    in 2018

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.

Biel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,420
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 4,270
Best rank ever
#4,910
2024
Peak year
2024
20 that year
First recorded
2012
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
85
Count in 2025
17

Names similar to Biel

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

RielLielZielAcielItielEmielErielJaielCielEzielOzzielRacielZaielXavielAmmielJesielMielJurielLenielZarielAurielJexielYosielJoziel

Sibling names for Biel

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 Biel

Top names of 2024, Biel's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Boys' names starting with BCatalan Boy Names