Angel - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 2 syll. an-gel, ang-el ] The boy name Angel is also used, but less often, as a girl name. Its pronunciation is EYNJHahL ^KEY. Angel is used predominantly in the English, Slavic, and Spanish languages, and its origin is Old Greek. Angel's meaning is messenger of God, angel. Biblical name derived from the elements 'angelos' meaning angel, messenger ; 'angelus' meaning angel. Angelos (Old Greek) and Angelus (Latin) are original forms of Angel. The name is from the Church Latin name Angelus and ultimately from the Greek element 'angelos', which meant 'messenger' in classical Greek, and 'messenger of God' in New Testament Greek in reference to the celestial being. The name has been used since the Middle Ages, and it was mainly used by Roman Catholics, especially in the Mediterranean. The name was later introduced to the USA via Spanish speakers. It was primarily a male name, as in the character Angel Clare in Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d'Urbervilles (1891). The name later came to be used for girls as well due to its association with the word 'angel' as a term of endearment for a little girl. The name Angela (Dutch, English, German, Italian, Romanian, Russian, and Slavic) is the female version of Angel.

Angel has 16 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Angel used in English include Angell and Angelo (also used in Italian). The short form Ange is another English variant.

Foreign variants of Angel include Aingeru (Basque), Andel (Czech), Andelik (Czech), Andjelko (Slavic), Angelos (Greek), Angelus (German), Aniol (Polish), Anshel (Yiddish), Antshel (Yiddish), Anxo (Galician), Àngel (Catalan), Ángel (Spanish), and Gotzon (Basque).

Angel is very popular as a baby name for boys, and it is also considered trendy. The name's popularity has been growing since the 1910s. Its usage peaked recently in 2006 with 0.529% of baby boys being given the name Angel. It ranked at #31 then. In 2007, its usage was 0.513% and its ranking #34, and it was the most popular among all boy names in its group. In 2007, 9 times more boys were named Angel than the subsequent ranked name, Angelo (English and Italian). There were times from 1970 to 1986 that the name Angel was given more often to girls, but it is more popular as a boy name today. In 2006, the name Angel was given to 5 times as many boys than girls.

Baby names that sound like Angel include Angell (English), Àngel (Catalan), and Ángel (Spanish).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Angel: EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; JH as in "gee (JH.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)"

Popularity Trend
for Angel
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Angel
in 2007