Hazel
Meaning of Hazel
Hazel is the English word for the hazel tree and its nut, from the Old English hæsel; name dictionaries generally give the meaning as simply the hazel tree. The color word, as in hazel eyes, comes from the same root and refers to the light brown of the nut. The name became common as a given name in the English-speaking world during the nineteenth century.
It is pronounced HAY-zuhl, with the stress on the first syllable, the same in American and British English.
Its best-known literary use is in Richard Adams's Watership Down, where Hazel is the chief rabbit who leads the group to a new home. Among real bearers, the jazz and classical pianist Hazel Scott is widely known; she spoke out against racial discrimination and pressed for better Black representation in film. The tennis champion Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman, who won 45 U.S. titles and founded the Wightman Cup, is another.
Hazel was among the most common American girls' names a century ago, reaching 18th place in 1897, then faded steadily, falling as low as 1,328th in 1983, when 90 girls received it. It has climbed back since: it entered the top 100 in 2015, matched its old peak of 18th in 2023, and ranked 21st in 2025, with 6,318 babies.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as HAY-zuhl (/'heɪ.zəl/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Hazel
| Hazel Dorothy Scott was a Trinidadian American jazz and classical pianist and singer who spoke out against racial discrimination and helped improve Black representation in film. |
| Hazel Ying Lee was a pioneering American pilot with the Women Airforce Service Pilots during World War II. |
| Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman was an American tennis champion who dominated before World War I, founded the Wightman Cup, and won 45 US titles. |
| Hazel Jane Dickens was a pioneering American bluegrass singer famed for pro union feminist anthems who, with Alice Gerrard, was among the first women to record a bluegrass album and was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2017. |
| Hazel Thereasa O'Connor is a British singer songwriter and actress known for early 1980s hits Eighth Day, D Days, and Will You and for starring in the 1980 film Breaking Glass. |
| Hazel Poa Koon Koon is a Singaporean politician and businesswoman from the Progress Singapore Party who served as a Non Constituency Member in the 14th Parliament and as the party’s secretary general. |
| Hazel Barton - Dr. Hazel A. Barton is an English born microbiologist, geologist, and cave diver who studies extremophiles, is a Loper Endowed Professor at the University of Alabama, and has appeared in documentaries. |
| Hazel Keech, also known as Rose Dawn and later Gurbasant Kaur, is a British actress and model in Indian cinema and TV, seen in Billa and Bodyguard, a Suzuki ad, the Kahin Pe Nigahaen remix, and Bigg Boss 7 in 2013. |
| Hazel Winifred Johnson-Brown was a pioneering U.S. Army nurse and educator who served from 1955 to 1983, became in 1979 the first Black woman general and first Black chief of the Army Nurse Corps, and directed the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing. |
| Hazel Shermet was an American actress, comedian, and singer known for a long career on stage and screen and for voicing Henrietta Hippo on New Zoo Revue in the 1970s. |
| Hazel Gladys Bishop was an American chemist and entrepreneur who founded the cosmetics company Hazel Bishop Inc and invented the first long lasting lipstick. |
| Jean Hazel Henderson was an American futurist and environmental activist who, with only a British high school education, became a lecturer and advisor and authored Building a Win Win World and Ethical Markets Growing the Green Economy. |
| Hazel Gaynor is an English historical fiction and fantasy author based in Ireland. |
| Hazel Leona Walker was a trailblazing basketball star who led her college to the 1934 AAU title, later founded the barnstorming Arkansas Travelers that dominated male teams for 16 seasons, and entered the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2001. |
| Hazel Julia Phillips is a British Australian singer, actress, and TV talk show host known for her work in Australia. |
