Axel

Axel meaning

Axel is an international boy's name of Hebrew origin (via Danish).

Danish form of Absalom, "father of peace"

Axel is the Scandinavian form of the biblical name Absalom. The Norwegian encyclopedia Store norske leksikon describes Aksel or Axel as a Danish reshaping of Absalon, and the 1907 Catholic Encyclopedia notes that the great Danish archbishop Absalon of Lund was also known as Axel. Absalom itself is Hebrew ʾAbšālôm, which Strong's Concordance (H53) explains as ʾāb, "father", with šālôm, "peace", giving "father of peace". In the Bible Absalom is King David's son. The name is now used across Scandinavia, Germany and the Americas, and the crisp two-syllable sound works easily with Indian surnames.

Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), Hebrew, H53 · entry אַבְשָׁלוֹם ʾAbšālôm · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Strong's H53, Abshalom (Bible Hub) · Store norske leksikon, Axel (mannsnamn) · Catholic Encyclopedia (1907), Absalon

Famous namesakes

• Absalon (Axel), 12th-century archbishop of Lund and Danish statesman

Popularity abroad

• #79 United States, boys 2025 (down 1 from 78 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #147 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Axel · Aksel · Axl

Related names

Also meaning peace

More names of Hebrew origin

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