Diesel is a modern American word name taken from the fuel and the engine, both named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel. Its meaning is simply the word itself, "diesel fuel" or "diesel engine", which places it alongside rugged picks like Maverick, Gunner and Ryder; the actor Vin Diesel made it familiar as a tough-guy label. The name peaked at number 1186 in the United States in 2014 and has since drifted down to number 2335 in 2025.