Able
Able reached its high-water mark in 2014 at number 2,661, and has been recorded 1,115 times in all. In 2025 it ranked 5,045th. About 980 Ables are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 16.
Popularity, 1880–2025
boys named Able
By the numbers
- Total US births
- 1,115
- Estimated living today
- 980
- Median age today
- 16
- Peak year
- 2014
- Best rank
- 2,661st
- Rank in 2025
- 5,045th
- First recorded
- 1912
How old the living Ables are
born that year still alive today
Of the 1,115 babies given the name since 1912, about 980 are alive — 87 in every hundred. Roughly 530 of them are children and 50 are 65 or over. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 2009 and half after.
An estimate, not a count. SSA births aged forward through SSA cohort life tables, which know nothing about who left the country or arrived in it — so for a name that mostly came to America rather than being born in it, this is a floor rather than a figure. Where you fall among living Americans.
Where Able is most common
Relative to how many babies each state records, Able is most concentrated in California (5.5×), Texas (5.2×).
Total births recorded in each state since 1910. Browse names by state.
Names of 2014
The most popular boys’ names the year Able peaked:
Try it on yourself
Source: US Social Security Administration, national and state baby-name files, 1880–2025. Counts include only births registered with the SSA, and names with fewer than five births in a year are not published. The living estimate applies SSA cohort life tables to those births; it counts people born in the United States, so it misses anyone who arrived later and anyone who has left.