Axel sits comfortably in the UK charts at #129 in 2024 — recognisable but not overwhelming. Your child may occasionally share their name.
📊
UK Rank 2024
#129
US Rank #78
About the Name Axel
Axel is steadily gaining in popularity, up 39 places over the past five years. Its best recorded rank was #100 in 2022, and it currently sits at #129. The name has been a consistent presence in UK records since 1996. It briefly reached the UK top 100, though it typically sits a little further down the charts.
Axel is distinctive enough that your child will likely be the only one in both their class and their school — standing out on every register.
In the US it ranks even higher at #78, where it enjoys a particularly strong following.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the name Axel
Unlikely. With around 431 UK babies named Axel per year, your child will almost certainly be the only Axel in his class, and possibly the only one in the whole school.
Axel is currently rising in popularity in the UK, up 39 places over the last five years to #129 in 2024. If this trend continues, it will become more common in classrooms over the next decade.
Axel is more popular in the US (#78) than in the UK (#129). Names with strong rankings in both countries tend to have broad cross-cultural appeal, working well for international families or those with ties to both nations.
Notable people named Axel include: Axel Dumas — Axel Dumas is a French billionaire heir and business executive.; Axel Kicillof — Axel Kicillof is an Argentine economist and politician who has been Governor of Buenos Aires Province since 2019.; Axel Disasi — Axel Wilson Arthur Disasi Mhakinis Belho is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club West Ham United, on loan from....
Axel ranks #78 in the US (2024), making it comfortably inside the American top 100. It's well-liked on both sides of the Atlantic.
431
UK babies named Axel (2024)
~0.0
Expected classmates with this name (class of 28)
~0.2
In a school of 600
↑ 39 places
Rank change (last 5 years)
🏫 Who else is in the room?
In a typical UK class of 28, highlighted children share the name Axel
Likely around 1 other Axel in the class
UK Popularity (1996–2024)
Rank and birth count · ONS official data
US Popularity (2020–2024)
Rank · SSA official data
✨ Similar names to Axel
Names with a similar style — each with their own classroom story
Axel Dumas is a French billionaire heir and business executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) of Hermès, and a sixth-generation member of the Hermès-Dumas family.
Axel Kicillof is an Argentine economist and politician who has been Governor of Buenos Aires Province since 2019. He is a member of the peronist left political coalition Homeland Force (formerly Union for the Homeland).
Axel Wilson Arthur Disasi Mhakinis Belho is a French professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club West Ham United, on loan from Chelsea.
Axel Rudi Pell is a German hard rock guitarist. Formerly of the speed metal band Steeler, he has pursued a solo career since the late 1980s–early 1990s with the eponymous band Axel Rudi Pell, working with a number of vocalists; the longest-serving, since 1998, being Johnny Gioeli of Hardline.
Axel Madsen was a Danish-American biographer and journalist. Born in Copenhagen and raised in Paris, Madsen turned from music to writing in the early 1950s, initially for the Paris edition of the New York Herald Tribune.
Axel Fredrik Bjurström, born 6 January 1846 in Malmö, died 21 January 1890 in Ystad, was a Swedish newspaper publisher and businessman. He is most famous for founding the paper Ystads Allehanda in 1873.
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna was a Swedish statesman and Count of Södermöre. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden from 1612 until his death.
The Axel jump or Axel Paulsen jump, named after its inventor, Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen, is an edge jump performed in figure skating. It is the sport's oldest and most difficult jump, and the only basic jump in competition with a forward take-off, which makes it the easiest to identify.