Reuel

#3,363 in 2025Boys' name

Friend of God

Reuel has been given to 958 babies in the U.S. since 1893. In 2025 it ranked #3,363 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 35 recorded.

Babies named Reuel, 2025

1 in 94,700

Reuel over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Reuel: meaning, origin, and history

Friend of God

Hebrew

What Reuel means

Reuel means “friend of God”, associated with רְעוּאֵל.

Origin, language, and formation

Reuel is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Reuel comes through Hebrew רְעוּאֵל.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Reuel is pronounced /ˈruː(ə)l/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 958 boys were recorded with the name Reuel between 1893 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 35 in 2025; its best national rank was #1,004 in 1893.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,405 in 2020 to #3,363 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #9,387 in 2015 to #3,363 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 Reuel?

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

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 94,700; 35 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 48,800; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #3,363; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 65,655 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Reuel 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 65,655 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Reuel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Reuels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Reuel was born before 1970 — so the typical Reuel is around 55 today.

Median birth year: 1970; About 55 years old
Biggest decade: 2020s; 15.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 35.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 591; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2020s — 15.8% of all recorded uses (151).

Is Reuel 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: +688; Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago: +2,042; Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago: +6,024; Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago: 4.38×; More babies than then
Share of its own peak: 100.0%; Peak was 2025 (35)
Years since peak: Peaking now; At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 39.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,004; 1893

Spellings of Reuel

Reuel is not the most common spelling — Raul is, with 33.3% against Reuel's 0.36%.

Raul33.3%88,040
Rene19.3%50,940
Reed13.7%36,056
Reuben12.2%32,145
Lemuel3.8%9,965
Reyes2.3%5,979
Jewel2.0%5,243
Roel1.8%4,711

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 Reuel is used

Across 1910–2025, Reuel was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,361,243 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1California1 in —
2Texas1 in —

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. Reuel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Reuel around the world

Where Reuel 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
1997–2025
#1,406
in 2025
Canada
2002–2024
#2,550
in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Reuel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #3,363
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: Up 2,042
Best rank ever: #1,004; 1893
Peak year: 2025; 35 that year
First recorded: 1893
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 958
Count in 2025: 35

Names similar to Reuel

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

Reuven Benuel Juel Anuel Reubin Kemuel Ruel Januel Amanuel Nahuel Buel Euel Eyuel Enmanuel Sammuel Marquel Shmuel Josuel Miquel Jemuel Jaquel Yanuel Simuel Reuben

Sibling names for Reuel

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

For a sister

Leonor Karleigh Keren Eloisa Shoshana Nila Kamilah Denisse

For a brother

Evans Hamilton Caesar Tobin Leander Henri Lucio Gray

Explore around Reuel

Top names of 2025, Reuel's peak year The 2020s in full Other names that peaked in 1893 Boys' names starting with R