Abdiel
Meaning
servant of God
The story
Abdiel means "servant of God" in Hebrew, from eved, "servant, slave", and el, "God", and Behind the Name gives it two lives in books: in the Old Testament it belongs to a member of the tribe of Gad, and in John Milton's Paradise Lost of 1667 it is the name of the seraph who withstands Satan when he urges the angels to revolt. The published American record is a late, steady riser: about 33 boys in the 1970s, about 145 in the 1980s, about 380 in the 1990s, about 1,300 in the 2000s, about 3,300 in the 2010s, and about 2,550 so far this decade. Brazil's census counts about 1,280 with a median age of twenty-three. A servant in the meaning, a defiant angel in the literature, and a record climbing without a pause.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Abdiel peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
1,277 people · the #7,027 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 166,667 · median age 23
Among people named Abdiel living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 134 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Abdiel
Most people given the name Abdiel in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Abdiel deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Abdiel truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Abdiel fits with your family’s names and surname.
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