Abel is a Hebrew name, usually explained as "breath" or "vapor", from the word hevel; some scholars connect it instead to an Akkadian word for "son". In the Book of Genesis Abel is the second son of Adam and Eve, the shepherd whose offering God accepted. In the United States Abel climbed from number 352 in 2000 to a peak of number 124 in 2015 and has eased back since, ranking number 231 among boys' names in 2025.