Axel Name Meaning & Origin
Axel
Origin of the name Axel:
A borrowing from the Scandinavians, Axel is a cognate of the biblical Absalom, which is derived from the Hebrew ‘abshālōm (the father is peace). Var: Aksel, Apsel.
From A World of Baby Names by Teresa Norman.
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US Popularity of Axel Over Time

Sister & Brother Names
Know an Axel? What are his siblings named?
Name Lists Featuring Axel
- Swedish Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Sweden 2014
- Belgian Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Belgium (Flanders) 2014
- Belgian Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Belgium (Flanders), 2010
- Swedish Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Sweden, 2010
- Chilean Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Chile 2010
- Swedish Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Sweden for 2012
- Icelandic Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Iceland 2014
- Belgian Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Belgium (Flanders) for 2012
- French Boys Names: Most Popular Boys Names in France
- Swedish Boys Names: Most Popular Names for Boys in Sweden
Contribute your knowledge to the name Axel
- Comments and insights on the name Axel
I am a fairly young parent. My first son was born just before my 24th birthday. We named him Acksel. A modified version of Aksel. My husband is norwegian and we really wanted a scandinavian name. It could not suit my son more perfectly. I love that it is unique and that it has an edge to it. I think it is for lack of a better phrase "really bad ass name". When people first hear his name everyone asks if he was named after Axl Rose but its better that than one of the most common names on the planet. I couldnt be more happy with our choice it ROCKS!!!!
If you had triplets, you could name them Axel,Alex & Lexa - Axel, Alex and Lexa are anagrams of each other; they contain the same letters.
I first heard of the name Axel through the Kingdom Hearts videogame. I really like all of the nobodies names, they are all really modern, and almost all of them have the letter X. I would like to name my son Axel, Roxas or Riku. I know it's crazy that they would be named after a videogame character, but I really like those names.
- Personal experiences with the name Axel
When I was born (in 1936) there was no Babynamewizard in Germany, and so the family had a difficult time settling on a name for me. The final choices were Alexander and Axel, my father wanting the first and my mother the second. So, a compromise was struck: my legal name was to be Alexander, but the family would call me Axel. As I lived mostly with my mother's family, I was known to everyone in the family as Axel, but in school and officially I was still Alexander. As members of the family died out, fewer and fewer people called me Axel. Today, I am simply Alex. I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad about this, but it is simply a personal experience relating to the difficulty of naming babies without babynamewizard.
The name Axel is in the videogame Kingdom Hearts, he is Roxas's friend and is a nobody, so technically he's in all the KH games after the first one. That's KH2, Chain of memories, stuff like that.
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My younger cousin was named Axel Jameson. He was born on 11/11/11. When he was three months old he was at daycare taking a nap with his older siblings Smith and Jorja when he died of SIDS(sudden infant death syndrome) he would have been two last November. I only got to meet him once but his name will always hold a special place in my heartI recently met a very lovely guy that goes by the name Axel. He's very smart,cute,interesting and oh,truly one of the most charming guys i've ever met.So now,Axel is on the list of names i find pretty attractive hehe.
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I used to be friends with an Axel. He was kind, funny, and a wonderful person. He had a beautiful smile, and he was a great friend. He was the type of person you could be yourself around. This name holds a special place in my heart because of him.
- Nicknames for Axel
Ax, Axman, ELT
- Meanings and history of the name Axel
On all the sites I looked on, Axel meant My father is peace of Father OF peace. I thought it was interesting that it was very similar, but the meaning is talking about two different people, so it's almost completely different.
- Famous real-life people named Axel
Axl Rose of Guns 'n' Roses (Not quite Axel)
Axel Alonso is American comic book creator, editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics
Axel Paulsen, Olympic gold medalist, inventor of the figure skating Axel jump
Axel Merckx, professional bicyclist, son of the great Eddy Merckx, professional bicyclist
Axel Springer, German journalist
Axel Olin, NBA player
Axel Stein is a German actor and comedian.
Axel the Jury
Axel Lee McElhenney (b. 2010), son of American actress, model and comedian Kaitlin Olson and American actor, producer, and screenwriter Rob McElhenney
Axel Paulin Ferrell (b. 2010), son of American actor, comedian, producer, and writer Will Ferrell
Axel Strahl Meyers (b. 2018), son of American comedian, writer, political commentator, actor, and television host Seth Meyers, brother to Ashe Olsen
Axel Charles Bale (b. 2018), son of Welsh professional footballer Gareth Bale, brother to Alba Violet and Nava Valentina
Axel Auriant-Blot, french actor and drummer (chaotic lovable mess)- Axel in song, story & screen
Axel, a protagonist in Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth
Axel Foley, Eddie Murphy's character in Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
Axel, Number VIII in Organization XIII, Kingdom Hearts
Axel is a character on ABC TV series, The Middle, played by Charlie McDermott.