The Name Hazel: From an 1880 Broadway Play to the Fault in Our Stars

Hazel is one of the biggest naming success stories of the last five years. In the UK, it was a new entry to the top 100 girls' names in England and Wales in 2023, according to Office for National Statistics data — the first time it had appeared in the UK top 100 in decades. In the US, it entered the top 50 girls' names in 2022, the first time it had been that high since around 1930. It is a name that has done what almost no other name has: gone quiet for nearly a century, then come back not slowly but quickly, and in more than one country at once. This blog looks at where it came from, why it faded, and what happened to bring it back.

Hazel at a Glance

Origin & Meaning

Hazel comes directly from the Old English word hæsel (also written hæsl), which meant the hazel tree. It traces back through Proto-Germanic *haslaz to a Proto-Indo-European root *koselos, which meant the same tree. According to Etymonline, the same ancestor word gave English German Hasel, Dutch hazel, Swedish hassel, Old Norse hasl, Latin corulus, and Old Irish coll — all still meaning the hazel tree in their modern forms.

The name has two related meanings that developed in that order. First it meant the tree. Then, from Shakespeare onwards, it also meant a specific reddish-brown colour, taken from the shade of ripe hazelnuts. This second meaning appears for the first time in print in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1592), when Mercutio taunts Benvolio: "Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no reason but because thou hast hazel eyes."

That is why Hazel is now the standard English word for the specific greenish-brown eye colour, and why English speakers who are asked to name their eye colour will often say "hazel" rather than any of the more clinical alternatives.

The Tree Itself

The common hazel (Corylus avellana) is a small deciduous tree or large shrub native to Europe, western Asia, and north Africa. In Britain, it is one of the most common hedgerow species, grows to about 4-8 metres, and produces edible nuts (hazelnuts, sometimes called cobnuts or filberts) in autumn.

The tree has one unusual property that shaped its cultural importance long before it became a name. In Britain, the hazel produces its long yellow catkins between January and March, at the very end of winter, sometimes weeks before any other British tree flowers. For thousands of years of British agricultural life, hazel catkins were among the first visible signs that spring was coming. Ancient farming communities watched them the way weather forecasters watch satellite images now.

The hazel is also the source of the traditional dowsing rod. Water diviners across Europe and the British Isles used a forked hazel branch to search for underground water, held loosely in both hands and expected to twitch downwards when the diviner walked over an aquifer. The practice is not scientifically supported, but it was widely believed in rural Britain until well into the 20th century, and the hazel's association with finding hidden things predates the practice by centuries.

The Celtic Salmon of Knowledge

The most famous ancient story about the hazel comes from Ireland. In Irish mythology, nine sacred hazel trees grew around a pool called Tobar Segais ("the Well of Wisdom"), at the source of the River Boyne. The nuts fell from the trees into the pool, where they were eaten by a single salmon, known as the bradán feasa or "Salmon of Knowledge." Anyone who ate the salmon would gain all the wisdom in the world.

A druid poet called Finnegas (also spelled Finn Éces) spent seven years fishing for this salmon on the banks of the Boyne. He eventually caught it, and asked his young apprentice — a boy called Deimne — to cook it, with strict instructions not to eat any of the flesh himself. While turning the salmon on the spit, Deimne burned his thumb on the hot skin and, without thinking, put his thumb in his mouth. In that single accidental moment, all the wisdom of the world passed into him instead of his master.

Finnegas realised what had happened and accepted it. The boy Deimne was then given a new name — Fionn, meaning "fair-haired" — and grew up to become Fionn mac Cumhaill (anglicised as Finn McCool), leader of the Fianna and one of the great heroes of Irish mythology. Every Irish schoolchild still learns the story. The version with the burnt thumb is one of the oldest surviving Celtic tales, appearing in the manuscript tradition by the 12th century AD.

How Hazel Became a Name

Hazel remained purely a word for the tree until surprisingly recently. According to Wikipedia's history of the name, before about 1865, Hazel was almost never used as a personal name, and when it was, it was usually given to boys, not girls. Its shift into a common girls' name was driven by one specific event.

In 1880, an American playwright called Steele MacKaye premiered a play called Hazel Kirke at the Madison Square Theatre in New York. The play ran for 486 consecutive performances at its original venue, a Broadway record that stood for the next 40 years, and touring companies performed it across America for the next decade. Hazel Kirke, the heroine of the play, was young, sympathetic, and loved — and American parents responded almost immediately. By 1890, Hazel had entered the US top 100 girls' names for the first time.

It stayed high through the Edwardian era, peaking in the US at around 18th in the early 1900s. In the UK it became a common girls' name in the same period, particularly in rural areas and Scotland. It was one of the botanical-name cluster (Rose, Lily, Ivy, Daisy, Violet) that dominated late-Victorian and Edwardian naming taste.

The 20th-Century Decline and the 21st-Century Return

Hazel began falling in the 1930s and by 1960 had left the top 100 in both the UK and the US. By 1990 it was virtually unused — given to fewer than 200 baby girls per year in the entire United States. In the UK it was rare enough that meeting a Hazel under 40 was unusual. It had become, in the language of naming trends, a "grandmother name."

The recovery began quietly in the mid-2000s. Richard Adams's novel Watership Down (1972), in which the male hero rabbit was called Hazel, had kept the name in cultural circulation for decades in a low-key way. Actor Julia Roberts named her daughter Hazel Patricia in 2004, which triggered a small US bump. But the real acceleration came from a book published in 2012.

John Green's young adult novel The Fault in Our Stars was published in January 2012. The narrator and central character is Hazel Grace Lancaster, a 16-year-old girl living with thyroid cancer. The book sold over 23 million copies worldwide, was translated into 47 languages, and was adapted into a film in 2014 starring Shailene Woodley. The character was intelligent, funny, honest, and gently sarcastic. Baby name websites reported an immediate spike in the year the book was published, and a larger one after the film came out.

In the UK the climb accelerated later. Hazel entered the top 100 in England and Wales for the first time in decades in 2023, according to Office for National Statistics data released in December 2024. The ONS specifically flagged Hazel as one of its notable new entries for 2023, alongside Lilah, Autumn, Nevaeh, and Raya. British parents currently choosing Hazel are choosing it before it becomes obviously common — most parents in the UK still associate it with older generations, which for many is part of the appeal.

Famous People Named Hazel

• Hazel Dorothy Scott (11 June 1920 – 2 October 1981), Trinidad-born American jazz and classical pianist. Auditioned for the Juilliard School at 8 (half the standard entry age) and was given special admission. First person of African descent in the United States to host their own television programme (The Hazel Scott Show, DuMont Television Network, 1950). Blacklisted after testifying voluntarily before the House Un-American Activities Committee in the same year.
• Hazel McCallion (14 February 1921 – 29 January 2023), Canadian politician, Mayor of Mississauga, Ontario for 36 consecutive years (1978–2014). Nicknamed "Hurricane Hazel," she balanced the city budget for 30 consecutive years without borrowing. Died aged 101.
• Hazel Blears (b. 14 May 1956), British Labour politician, MP for Salford (1997–2015), Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (2007–2009).
• Hazel Irvine (b. 26 April 1965), Scottish sports broadcaster with the BBC for over 30 years, best known for presenting Olympic Games and World Snooker Championship coverage.
• Hazel Patricia Moder (b. 28 November 2004), daughter of American actress Julia Roberts.
• Hazel Renee (b. 1987), American actress.

Fictional Hazels

• Hazel Grace Lancaster, protagonist of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (2012), played by Shailene Woodley in the 2014 film adaptation.
• Hazel, the male hero rabbit in Richard Adams's Watership Down (1972), voiced by John Hurt in the 1978 animated film. (Note: Hazel is a male character in the book but the name has been used for both sexes historically.)
• Hazel Kirke, heroine of Steele MacKaye's 1880 play, the character who effectively started Hazel's life as a girls' name.
• Hazel Levesque, a demigod character in Rick Riordan's Heroes of Olympus series (2010–2014).
• Hazel, the tortoise in Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Little Pig Robinson (1930).

Nicknames, Middle Names, and Everyday Practicalities

Hazel is short enough that most families use it in full. The common short forms are Haze, Hazy, and Zel, though none has really established itself as a standard nickname. In some families, Hazie is used as an affectionate form for young children. The name has no obvious formal or long version — what you see is what you get, which is one of its practical strengths.

For middle names, Hazel pairs well with two- or three-syllable options that soften its crisp opening. Popular UK combinations include Hazel Rose, Hazel Grace, Hazel Iris, Hazel May, Hazel Elizabeth, Hazel Louise, Hazel Beatrice, and Hazel June. The pairing Hazel Grace is now specifically associated with the John Green novel and is used less often for that reason.

For sibling names, Hazel sits naturally with other UK vintage-revival flower and nature names: Ivy, Poppy, Iris, Willow, Violet, Rose, Fern, Daisy, and Florence for sisters; Arthur, Rupert, Otto, Wilfred, Jasper, and Ambrose for brothers. It also pairs well with the biblical-revival cluster popular alongside it: Reuben, Silas, Ezra, and Jude for brothers; Naomi, Miriam, and Ruth for sisters.

Final Thoughts

Hazel is one of the strongest current examples of a full naming-cycle revival. It went from unused word to Victorian sensation to Edwardian favourite to mid-century decline to complete disappearance to gradual return, over the space of about 150 years. Its 2023 entry into the UK top 100 marks the point at which the revival has clearly succeeded.

Its meaning is unusually simple and unusually warm: the name of a small woodland tree that produces edible nuts and flowers earlier than almost any other British tree. Its associations reach back through Shakespeare's eye-colour reference, through Celtic wisdom mythology, into Old English and Proto-Indo-European vocabulary of a shared European ancestor language spoken thousands of years ago.

Its current UK popularity is high enough to feel current, low enough that a Hazel born today is still unlikely to share the name with three others in her class. This is roughly the sweet spot most British parents are looking for. If you like how it sounds and want a genuinely British nature name with a long history behind it, Hazel is one of the strongest choices available right now.

If there's a Hazel in your life, our handcrafted Hazel Personalised Name Meaning Print tells her name's story properly, designed, printed, and shipped from the UK on museum-quality fine art paper. You can also browse the rest of our name print collection for the other names in your family.