Gender
Origin
- Hebrew
- God listens. In the bible Ismael was son of Abraham by Sarahs Egyptian slave woman Hagar.
God hears; In the Bible, Ishmael was the elder son of Abraham by Hagar, the Egyptian slave of Abraham''s wife Sarah. Ishmael is considered the patriarch of Arabs and forefather of Islam."Call me Ishmael." —the famous opening sentence of Herman Melville''s epic novel Moby Dick
Syllables
2
Themes
- Biblical
- Literary
Alternate Spellings and Variants of Ishmael
Pronunciation
i-sh-mael
Popularity in the USA
- Boys: peak in 2017 (rank #1181, 158 births); most recent 2025 (rank #1466, 121 births)
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 121 |
| 2024 | 119 |
| 2023 | 120 |
| 2022 | 97 |
| 2021 | 143 |
| 2020 | 144 |
| 2019 | 143 |
| 2018 | 139 |
| 2017 | 158 |
| 2016 | 132 |
Top girl names · Top boy names in the USA (2025)
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA), national baby names data (public domain). This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the SSA. Data years: 1880 to 2025. Original data
Popularity in England and Wales
- Boys: peak in 2010 (rank #943, 30 births); most recent 2025 (rank #3239, 6 births)
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 |
| 2024 | 10 |
| 2023 | 13 |
| 2022 | 12 |
| 2021 | 12 |
| 2020 | 14 |
| 2019 | 11 |
| 2018 | 12 |
| 2017 | 21 |
| 2016 | 16 |
Top girl names · Top boy names in England and Wales (2025)
Source: Office for National Statistics (ONS), Baby names in England and Wales. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Data years: 1996 to 2025. Original data · Licence
Popularity in France
- Boys: peak in 2013 (rank #4165, 4 births); most recent 2021 (rank #4981, 3 births)
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 2023 | – |
| 2022 | – |
| 2021 | 3 |
| 2020 | – |
| 2019 | – |
| 2018 | – |
| 2017 | – |
| 2016 | – |
| 2015 | – |
| 2014 | – |
Top girl names · Top boy names in France (2023)
Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms (last updated 8 July 2024), used under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0. Changes: names are shown in title case, and spellings that differ only by accents are counted together. Data years: 1900 to 2023. Original data · Licence