Given name & surname

Orel

“the golden one”

Orel is used as a given name and a surname. One Latin interpretation is “the golden one.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

One Latin interpretation is “the golden one.”

Where it comes from

An origin associated with this spelling is Latin.

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1883. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Orel through the years

Babies since 1880
698
562 boys · 136 girls
Most popular year
1916
73 babies
2025
6
#11,643 for boys
2021–25 vs 2016–20
—
Too few births to compare
Boys Girls
02040601900192019401960198020002025Highest share 1891Boys 3.5Girls 0.0
Orel in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1883–2025, per million births of each sex. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

In 2025, this name appeared in 6 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 11,643 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 27 in 1916. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 439 as a first name in 2020; 370 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.

Orel’s family of names

In Slovenian usage, Orel as a surname shares a linguistic root with the English form Eagle. Orel has a related form in Oral. Orel has a related form in Oriel.

Walk Orel’s family in the name graph

OrelОрелOrielOrryOrrieOralOrrelOrriOrreyOrreaOrreeEagleOrlová

Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 9

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Show 1 moreShow fewer

Spellings & scripts 1

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Across languages 2

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

People named Orel

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Orel, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Latin

Emiel

“rival”

13Very rare

>99% boys

Latin

Orban

Orban is a surname with more than one origin. It is used in English, Romanian, and Walloon.

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Latin

Solon

Solon is a surname. It is used in Cebuano.

11Very rareEasing

>99% boys

Latin

Ovide

Ovide is a masculine given name from Latin. It is used in French.

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Latin · Vintage revival

Emil

“one who is eager; an industrious man”

44UncommonRising

>99% boys

Latin · Old-fashioned

Horace

“the keeper of time”

19Very rareEasing

>99% boys

Latin

Voight

Voight is a surname from German, ultimately from Latin.

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Latin · Old-fashioned

Morris

“a dark-skinned man; Moorish”

38RareSteady

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Orel’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Orel

A sister for Orel