Joel is a Hebrew name that means "Yahweh is God" or "the Lord is God"; the prophet Joel wrote one of the shorter books of the Old Testament. It has been in continuous use in English since the Reformation and is equally at home in Spanish and Scandinavian countries. Joel ranked number 112 among US boys' names in 2000 and stayed in the top 200 until the late 2010s; it stands at number 219 in 2025.