Given name & surname
Gabriel
“man of God”·“a hero of God”
Gabriel is used as a given name and a surname. Interpretations include “man of God” (Hebrew) and “a hero of God” (Hebrew). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Original Hebrewגבריאל
Meaning & origin
What it means
Interpretations include “man of God” (Hebrew) and “a hero of God” (Hebrew). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Hebrew.
How it developed
From Latin Gabriel, from Ancient Greek Γαβρῑήλ, from Biblical Hebrew גבריאל.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
The name appears in biblical tradition, giving it a longstanding religious and cultural context.
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Gabriel appears in Daniel 8:16, Luke 1:19, Luke 1:26 and 1 other passage.
- Daniel 8:16
- Luke 1:19
- Luke 1:26
- Jude 1:24
From biblical name research
Gabriel through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 402,627
- 395,778 boys · 6,849 girls
- Most popular year
- 2008
- 13,188 babies
- 2025
- 6,579
- #37 for boys · #9,671 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −20%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 6,569 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 37 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 19.9% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 13,041 in 2008. It also appeared in 10 birth records for girls in 2025. In 2025, Texas had the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (792). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 347,542 as a first name in 2020; 26,489 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Gabriel’s family of names
In Swedish usage, Gabriel has a diminutive in Gabriella. Gabriel has a feminine form in Gabriela. Gabriel has a related form in Gabrielle.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Gabriel has relatives in 60 languages. Lines run from its Hebrew roots to each of them.
Hebrewwhere Gabriel comes from · 2 names
Nicknames & forms 52
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Gabrielladiminutive · Swedish
- Gabrielavariant · German, Czech
- Gabriellevariant · French, English
- Gabbydiminutive · English
- Gabydiminutive · French, English
- Gabinovariant · Slovak
- Gabrielevariant · Italian, Slovene
- Gabediminutive · English
Show 44 moreShow fewer
- Bieldiminutive · Portuguese, Catalan
- Gablevariant
- Rielshort form
- Gabidiminutive · Spanish, Portuguese
- Gabbievariant
- Grabielvariant · Catalan
- Gabbivariant · Swedish
- Gabbriellikely variant
- Gaydiminutive · English
- Gabievariant
- Gabrianvariant
- Kabrielvariant · German
- Gabrelvariant · German
- Gabielvariant · German
- Gabigolnickname
- Gabrriellikely variant
- Gabdiminutive · French, English
- Gabbediminutive · Swedish
- Gaabidiminutive · gsw
- Gabryśclipped form · Polish
- Gabodiminutive · Spanish, Slovak
- Gabrielovariant · Esperanto
- Gabriovariant
- Gabbeevariant
- Gabbeyvariant
- Gabeevariant
- Gabeyvariant
- Gabriellovariant · Italian
- Gabriellivariant
- Gabrielkodiminutive · Slovak
- Gábidiminutive · Czech
- Gabrielekdiminutive · Polish, Czech
- Kapprehlvariant · German
- Kabrhelvariant · German
- Gabrielsvariant · German
- Gabrielivariant · German, Swahili
- Gaberelvariant · German
- Gabíkdiminutive · Czech
- Gabin(k)apet form
- Gabrapet form
- Gabekpet form
- Gabrysiapet form
- Gabryszpet form
- Gabryspet form
Spellings & scripts 7
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 78
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- גבריאלHebrew
- גַּבְרִיאֵלHebrew
- Jibreelequivalent
- Jibrildoublet · English, Malay
- DjibrilComorian
- Gabriellequivalent
- Gibrilequivalent
- Gabriyelequivalent
Show 52 moreShow fewer
- Gavriloequivalent
- Gavriildoublet · English, Romanian
- Gabirelalso known as · Basque
- GavrilRomanian, Albanian
- Jibrailrhg
- Haŭrylaequivalent
- Ґаборequivalent
- Гаврилоequivalent
- Гаврилequivalent
- ܓܒܪܝܠequivalent
- Գաբրիէլequivalent
- جبرائيلequivalent
- Gabrielisequivalent
- Gabrïélequivalent
- ГаврилаRussian
- ГавриилRussian
- GábrielHungarian
- ГавриїлUkrainian, rsk
- Γαβριήλgr, Greek
- GabrieliusLithuanian
- ガブリエルJapanese
- ГаўрыілBelarusian
- ГаўрылаBelarusian
- CəbrayılAzerbaijani
- جبريلArabic
- Gáborcognate · Hungarian
- Gaberiaugallo
- Beriaugallo
- גבֿריאלYiddish
- جەبرائىلUyghur
- Гавриї́лUkrainian
- CebrâilTurkish
- CebrailTurkish
- ҖәбраилTatar
- ҖибрилTatar
- Гаврии́лRussian
- جبرئیلPersian
- Џи́брилMacedonian
- Га́врилMacedonian
- ꓚꓬ-ꓑꓷ-ꓡꓰlis
- 가브리엘Korean
- ЖәбірейілKazakh
- GabríelIcelandic
- जिब्राईलHindi
- GaberielaHawaiian
- JibiriluHausa
- GabriëlDutch
- 加百列Mandarin
- ᎨꮘꮅCherokee
- জিবরাঈলBengali
- ܓܒܪܝܐܝSyriac
- ܓܒܪܐܝܠSyriac
And 18 more.
See also 7
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Gabriel
- Gabriel García MárquezColombian writer and Nobel laureate (1927–2014)
- Gabriel LippmannLuxembourgish physicist nationalized French (1845-1921)
- Gabriel Boricpresident of Chile from 2022 to 2026born 1986
- Dante Gabriel RossettiEnglish poet, illustrator, painter, and translator (1828-1882)
- Gabriel BatistutaArgentine association football playerborn 1969
- Gabriel FauréFrench composer, organist, pianist and teacher (1845–1924)
- Gabriel AttalPrime Minister of France in 2024born 1989
- Gabriel MarcelFrench philosopher, playwright, music critic and leading Christian existentialist (1889-1973)
- Gabriel JesusBrazilian association football playerborn 1997
Characters named Gabriel: Gabriel Stokes (The Walking Dead).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Gabriel, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Uriel
“the angel of light”
98% boys · 2% girls
Abel
“the life force; breath”
>99% boys
Emmanuel
“God is with us”
>99% boys
Isaac
“full of laughter”
>99% boys
Axel
“source of life; small oak” · “axe”
>99% boys
Jonah
“dove”
99% boys · 1% girls
Isaiah
“God is salvation” · “God is my salvation”
>99% boys
Caleb
“dog” · “resembling a dog”
>99% boys