Joel
Featured in baby name books
Joel is a Hebrew name meaning “God is Lord” or “Jehovah is God.” Joel joins a short form of Yahweh with El, “God”; it peaked in the early 1980s and suggests a down-to-earth everyguy, like Billy Joel and Joel Grey. In the Bible, Joel was a minor prophet who, after a plague of locusts, urged Judah to return to the Lord. In Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, gloomy loner Joel Barish has his memories of girlfriend Clementine erased after their breakup.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Boys, Classic Biblical Baby Names, The Everything Baby Names Book, Numerology for Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Sci-Fi Baby Names
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Usage of Joel in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Joel against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Joel is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Joel in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 1,633 boys were named Joel, making it the #219 boys' name in the US. Since 1880, 279,655 boys have been named Joel, with the most (4,623) in 1985. It is most common, relative to births, in New Mexico, North Dakota and Maryland.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Joel in other languages
- Joël Dutch, French
- Gioele Italian
- Joe English
- Juel Norwegian
- Jóel Icelandic
Joel name days
- July 13 Sweden
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Storms named Joel
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Joel, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tropical storm Joel | 2010 | South Indian Ocean | 111 km/h |
| Tropical storm Joel | 1994 | Western Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Tropical storm Joel | 1991 | Western Pacific | 102 km/h |
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Joel
There are 40 towns and villages with Joel in their name, in 7 countries.
🇲🇽 Mexico 26🇺🇸 United States 5🇧🇷 Brazil 4🇦🇺 Australia 2🇲🇼 Malawi 1🇲🇿 Mozambique 1🇳🇬 Nigeria 1
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kiryas Joel | New York, 🇺🇸 United States | 32,954 | Map |
| Joel | Wisconsin, 🇺🇸 United States | 958 | Map |
| Joel Joel | Victoria, 🇦🇺 Australia | 22 | Map |
| Joel Garza | Tamaulipas, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 10 | Map |
| Joel Aquino | Chiapas, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 8 | Map |
| Joel Botello | Durango, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 6 | Map |
| San Joel | Sonora, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 5 | Map |
| San Joel | Sonora, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 3 | Map |
| Joel | Ogun State, 🇳🇬 Nigeria | – | Map |
| Joel | Georgia, 🇺🇸 United States | – | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Joel
There are 8 lakes and reservoirs with Joel in their name, in 2 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 5🇨🇦 Canada 3
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Joel Flowage | Wisconsin, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Joel Flowage 22 | Wisconsin, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Joel Lake | Minnesota, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Joel Pond | Michigan, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lac Joël | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Joël | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Joël | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lake Joel | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Joel songs
7 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Joel in their title. The best known:
- Joel the Lump of Coal – The Killers (2014)
- El petit Joel – Martí Font i Triadú
- En Joel i la tenora – Sigfrid Galbany i Abril
- FEENIX (feat. Joel Hokka) – Dilemma (2019)
- JOEL (Bristol)
- JOEL (Morris)
- Joel – Albert Sanahuja i Puig
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Joel
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Joel.
Joel Breton
Joel Cacace
Joel Campbell
Joel Chianese
See more...
Fictional characters named Joel
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Joel as a pet name
FurryName has found 14 dogs named Joel in public pet registers, making it the #5,041 dog name there. Most of them are registered in New York City (10), Miranda (1), Burnside (1). Joel as a dog name →
Joel products
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Joel keychain
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Joel ornament
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Joel baby blanket
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Joel pillow
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