Hazel (given name)

Common card · No. 489993

Hazel is a primarily female given name meaning "hazel", from the name of the tree or the color. It is derived from the Old English hæsel. It became a popular name in English-speaking countries during the 19th century, along with other names of plants or trees used for girls. Until about 1865, Hazel was a rare name that was primarily in masculine use in the United States. A sympathetic character in the 1880 play Hazel Kirke by Steele MacKaye helped popularize it as a feminine name in the late 1800s. It later fell out of fashion but has increased in popularity due to the influence of the character Hazel Grace Lancaster in the 2012 novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and its 2014 film adaptation. The name was among the 25 most popular names for girls in the United States at the turn of the 20th century. It declined in usage in that country after the 1960s but rose again in usage after 1998. It has ranked among the top 50 names for newborn girls in the United States since 2017. It also...

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