Tel
Tel is a boy's name that peaked in 1985, when it was the 3,805th most popular in the United States. It has not appeared in the national data since 2024. About 190 Tels are alive in the United States today, and half of them are over 28.
Popularity, 1880–2025
boys named Tel
By the numbers
- Total US births
- 194
- Estimated living today
- 190
- Median age today
- 28
- Peak year
- 1985
- Best rank
- 3,805th
- Rank in 2025
- unranked
- First recorded
- 1985
How old the living Tels are
born that year still alive today
Of the 194 babies given the name since 1985, about 190 are alive — 97 in every hundred. The dotted line is the median: half were born before 1997 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.
Names of 1985
The most popular boys’ names the year Tel peaked:
Related names
Tel against another name
Two names on one chart, with the year one overtook the other.
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.