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 [ 3 syll. a-riel, ar-i-el ] The boy name Ariel is also used as a girl name, with the latter form being more common. Its pronunciation is EHRiyahL KEY. Ariel is used chiefly in the English, German, and Hebrew languages, and its origin is Hebrew. The name's meaning is lion of God. Biblical name derived from the elements 'ariy' meaning lion ; 'el' meaning God, powerful. In the Bible, Ariel was another name for the city of Jerusalem, its meaning symbolic of the city. It was also the name of Ezra's messenger who was tasked to find new servants for the temple in Jerusalem. According to the apocryphal bible, Ariel was the name of one of the archangels. Due to the biblical associations, the name was adopted by the Puritans after the Reformation. It is also known as the name of the mischievous wind spirit in Shakespeare's play The Tempest (1611). The name Ariela (English, Hebrew, and Italian) is the female form of Ariel. Arel (English and Hebrew), Areli (Hebrew), Ariele (Italian), and Ariell (English) are variants of Ariel. Other forms of Ariel include the short forms Ari (English and Hebrew) and Arie (Dutch and Hebrew), the pet form Arik (Hebrew), and the variant spelling Aeriel (English). Ariel is fairly popular as a baby name for boys. The name's popularity rose from the 1960s up to the 1990s; before that, it was of sporadic use only. At the modest height of its usage in 1991, 0.031% of baby boys were given the name Ariel. It ranked at #360 then. The baby name has since experienced a fall in popularity. In 2008, its usage was 0.021% and its ranking #570. Within the group of boy names directly linked to Ariel, Ari (English, Spanish, Hebrew, Bengali, Indian, and Greek) was the most popular. In 2008, it was used 10% more than Ariel. Though Ariel is more popular as a girl name today, there was a period from 1967 to 1980 that it was given more often to boys. From 1981 on, increasingly more girls than boys were named Ariel. In 2007, the name Ariel was given to 4 times as many girls than boys. Baby names that sound like Ariel include Aeriel (English), Ariele (Italian), Earlie (English), Early (English), Erol (Turkish), Earl (English), Earle (English), Erl (English), and Irl (English). A famous person named Ariel is Soldier Ariel Sharon, born 26 February 1928, Kefar Malal, Palestine. KEY: Pronunciation for Ariel: EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; R as in "read (R.IY.D)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)"   |
