Axel (name)
Axel is a French, German, Dutch and Scandinavian masculine given name and anagram of Alex. In Estonia, Denmark and Norway the spelling form Aksel is more common. The Finnish form of the name is :fi:Akseli |Akseli. A French feminine form is Axelle.
Because the Danish archbishop Absalon was also known as "Axel of Lund", the name has been interpreted as a corruption of the Hebrew name Absalom. Axel arose via Axelen from Absalon, possibly by conflation with the existing name Askel, Askil, medieval forms of the Old Norse name Ásketill, from ans "god" and ketill "cauldron".
As a given name
- Axel, Argentine singer-songwriter
- Absalon, Danish archbishop also known as Axel of Lund
- Prince Axel of Denmark
- Axel Aabrink, Danish painter
- Axel Gustav Adlercreutz, Swedish politician and civil servant
- Axel Alfredsson, Swedish footballer
- Axel Algmark, Swedish pop singer
- Axel von Ambesser, German actor and film director
- Axel Anderberg, Swedish architect
- Axel Andersen, Danish gymnast
- Axel Andersen Byrval, Danish football player and manager
- Axel Anderson, German-born Puerto Rican actor, television producer and television host
- Axel Andersson, Swedish track and field athlete
- Axel Andrésson, Icelandic footballer and football club founder
- Axel Óskar Andrésson, Icelandic footballer
- Axel Aubert, Norwegian chemical engineer
- Axel Augis, French gymnast
- Axel Axelsson, Icelandic footballer
- Axel Axelsson, Icelandic handball player
- Axel Axgil, Danish gay rights activist, first man to enter into a same-sex registered partnership
- Axel Bäck, Swedish alpine skier
- Axel Bachmann, Paraguayan chess player
- Axel Bakayoko, French footballer
- Axel Bakunts, Armenian prose writer, film-writer, translator and activist
- Axel Bassani, Italian motorcycle racer
- Axel Bauer, French singer
- Axel John Beck, American federal judge
- Axel D. Becke, Canadian physical chemist, professor and researcher
- Axel Bellinghausen, German footballer
- Axel Berg , Danish architect
- Axel Berg, German politician
- Axel Berndt, German sprint canoer
- Axel Birnbaum, Austrian fencer
- Axel Bloch, Danish fencer
- Jan Axel Blomberg, Norwegian heavy metal drummer
- Axel von Blomberg, German Air Force officer
- Axel Blomqvist, Swedish speed skater
- Axel Blumberg, Argentine kidnap and murder victim
- Axel Gudbrand Blytt, Norwegian botanist and geologist
- Jonas Axel Boeck, Norwegian marine biologist
- Axel Boëthius, Swedish scholar and archaeologist of Etruscan culture
- Axel Boman, Swedish house music DJ and producer
- Axel Borgmann, German footballer
- Axel Borup-Jørgensen, Danish composer
- Axel Börsch-Supan, German economist and researcher
- Axel Brage, Swedish ice hockey player
- Axel Braun, Italian adult film producer and director
- Axel Brauns, German writer and filmmaker
- Axel Ludvig Broström, Swedish shipping magnate
- Axel T. Brunger, German-born American biophysicist
- Axel Bruns, German-born Australian scholar
- Axel Brusewitz, Swedish political scientist and professor
- Axel Buch, Norwegian politician
- Axel Bulthaupt, German journalist, entertainer and television presenter
- Axel von dem Bussche, German WWII military officer, attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler
- Axel Cadier, Swedish wrestler
- Axel Chapelle, French pole vaulter
- Axel Cleeremans, Belgian cognitive scientist and professor
- Axel Clerget, French judoka
- Axel Coldevin, Norwegian historian
- Axel Collett, Norwegian landowner, timber merchant and sawmill owner
- Axel Coon, German musician
- Axel Corti, Austrian screenwriter, film director and radio host
- Axel Daeseleire, Belgian actor
- Axel Danielson, Swedish journalist and Swedish editor
- Axel Danielsson, Swedish socialist agitator, journalist and writer
- Axel Didriksson, Mexican writer, academic and professor
- Axel Dieter Jr., German professional wrestler
- Axel Disasi, French footballer
- Axel Domont, French racing cyclist
- Axel Doruelo, Filipino basketball player
- Axel Dreher, German economist
- Axel Drolsum, Norwegian librarian
- Axel Düberg, Swedish film actor
- Axel Dünnwald-Metzler, German footballer
- Axel Edelstam, Swedish diplomat
- Axel Eggebrecht, German journalist and writer
- Axel Ehnström, Finnish singer-songwriter
- Axel Eidstedt, Swedish ice hockey player
- Axel Ekblom, Swedish sport shooter
- Axel Elmlund, ballet dancer and stage actor
- Axel Elofs, Swedish long-distance runner
- Axel Ender, Norwegian painter and sculptor
- Axel Gustaf Torbjörn Enström, Swedish industrialist
- Axel Fredrik Enström, Swedish electrical engineer
- Axel Eriksson, Swedish rower
- Axel Wilhelm Eriksson Swedish ornithologist, settler, explorer and trader
- Axel Erlandson, Swedish-born American farmer and horticulturalist
- Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish statesman and soldier
- Axel von Fersen the Younger, Swedish count, diplomat, military general and statesman
- Axel Firsoff, Swedish-British amateur astronomer and author
- Axel Fischer, German politician
- Axel Foley, American hip hop musician
- Axel Olof Freudenthal, Finnish philologist and politician
- Axel Gabrielsson, Swedish rower
- Axel Gade, Danish violinist, composer and conductor
- Axel Garrido Rosenvinge, Danish businessman
- Axel Gedaschko, German politician
- Axel Geller, Argentine tennis player
- Axel Gotthard, German historian and professor
- Axel Graatkjær, Danish cinematographer
- Axel Grandjean, Danish composer and conductor
- Axel Gresvig, Norwegian competitive sailor
- Axel Grönberg, Swedish wrestler
- Axel Gyldenstierne Danish-Norwegian official and Governor-general of Norway
- Axel Gyllenkrok, Swedish baron, military general and governor of Gothenburg
- Axel Gyllenkrok, Norwegian sport shooter
- Axel Gyntersberg, Norwegian nobleman and feudal overlord
- Axel Otto Hagemann, Norwegian politician
- Axel Hager, German beach volleyball player
- Axel Haig, Swedish-born British artist, architect and illustrator
- Axel Hamberg, Swedish mineralogist, geographer, explorer, photographer and professor of geography
- Axel Hampus Dalström, Finnish architect
- Axel Hansen, Danish cyclist
- Axel Henry Hansen, Norwegian gymnast
- Axel von Harnack, German librarian, historian and philologist
- Axel Härstedt, Swedish discus thrower
- Axel Haverich, German cardiac surgeon
- Axel Hedfors, Swedish DJ and musician
- Axel Hedenlund, Swedish track and field athlete
- Axel Heiberg, Norwegian diplomat and financier
- Axel Heiberg, Norwegian judge
- Axel Heiberg Stang, Norwegian politician, landowner and forester
- Axel C. Heitmann, German business executive
- Axel Hellstrom, German muscle reader, mentalist and stage magician
- Axel Helsted, Danish painter
- Axel Nicolai Herlofson, Norwegian fraudster and criminal
- Axel Hervelle, Belgian basketball player
- Axel Hilgenstöhler, German record producer, mixing engineer and guitarist
- Axel Hirsoux, Belgian singer
- Axel Høeg-Hansen, Danish architect
- Axel Höjer, Swedish physician
- Axel Holmström, Swedish anarchist
- Axel Holmström, Swedish ice hockey player
- Axel Holst, Norwegian physician and professor of hygiene and bacteriology
- Axel Honneth, German philosopher, theorist and professor
- Axel Horn, American artist
- Axel Hultgren, Swedish metallurgist
- Axel Hütte, German photographer
- Axel Ingwersen, Danish sailor
- Axel Jang, German bobsledder
- Axel Janse, Swedish gymnast
- Axel Jansson, Swedish sport shooter
- Axel Jansson, Swedish politician
- Axel Jensen, Danish long-distance runner
- Axel Jensen, Norwegian author
- Axel P. Jensen, Danish landscape painter
- Axel Kacou, Ivorian-French footballer
- Axel Kahn, French scientist and geneticist
- Axel Kassegger, Austrian politician
- Axel Keller, German footballer
- Axel Kicillof, Argentine economist and politician
- Axel Kielland, journalist and playwright
- Axel Klinckowström, Swedish baron, zoologist, explorer, fiction writer and memoirist
- Axel Kober, German conductor
- Axel Kock, Swedish philologist and professor of Scandinavian languages
- Axel Koenders, Dutch triathlete
- Axel Köhler, German countertenor and opera director
- Axel Kolle, Norwegian footballer
- Axel Cédric Konan, Ivorian footballer
- Axel van der Kraan, Dutch sculptor
- Axel Krause, German painter and graphic artist
- Axel Kristiansson, Swedish politician
- Axel Kruse, German footballer
- Axel Kühn, German bobsledder
- Axel Kurck, Finnish warlord
- Axel van Lamsweerde, Belgian computer scientist and professor
- Axel Lapp, German curator, art historian and publisher
- Axel Larsson, Swedish wrestler
- Axel Lawarée, Belgian footballer
- Axel Leijonhufvud, Swedish economist and professor
- Axel Lerche, Danish sports shooter
- Axel Lesser, German cross country skier
- Axel Lewenhaupt, Swedish diplomat
- Axel Liebmann, Danish composer
- Axel Lille, Finnish journalist and politician
- Axel Lillie, Swedish soldier and politician
- Axel Lindahl, Swedish photographer
- Axel Lindstrom, Swedish baseball player
- Axel Ljung, Swedish gymnast and track and field athlete
- Axel Ljungdahl, Swedish Air Force general
- Aksel Lund Svindal, Norwegian alpine ski racer
- Axel Fredrik Londen, Finnish sports shooter
- Axel Louissaint, Swiss basketball player
- Axel Løvenskiold, Norwegian landowner and painter
- Axel Löwen, Swedish nobleman and military officer
- Axel Mackenrott, German heavy metal keyboardist
- Axel Madsen, Danish-born American biographer and journalist
- Axel Malmgren, Swedish artist
- Axel Maraval, French footballer
- Axel Matus, Mexican racing driver
- Axel Maurer,Norwegian stagewriter, editor and theatre director
- Axel Maußen, German Roman Catholic priest
- Axel Médéric, French figure skater
- Axel Merckx, Belgian cyclist
- Axel Méyé, Gabonese footballer
- Axel Meyer, German evolutionary biologist and professor of zoology
- Axel Michon, French tennis player
- Axel Michaels, German professor of classical Indology and religious studies
- Axel Milberg, German actor
- Axel Miller, Belgian businessman
- Axel Möller, Swedish astronomer
- Axel Otto Mörner, Swedish artist and military general
- Axel Mowat, Norwegian naval officer and land owner
- Axel Müller
- Axel Munthe, Swedish physician and psychiatrist
- Axel Murswieck, German political scientist, commentator and professor
- Axel Neff, American businessman
- Axel Nepraunik, Austrian sprinter
- Axel Neumann, German footballer
- Axel Ngando, French footballer
- Axel Nielsen, Danish astronomer
- Axel Noack, German race walker
- Axel Nordgren, Swedish painter
- Axel Nordlander, Swedish military officer and equestrian
- Axel Norling, Swedish gymnast, diver, and tug of war competitor
- Axel Otto Normann, Norwegian journalist, newspaper editor, theatre critic and theatre director
- Axel Oberwelland, German businessman
- Axel Ockenfels, German economist and professor
- Axel Odelberg, Swedish chemical engineer
- Axel Ohlin, Swedish zoologist and Arctic and Antarctic explorer
- Axel Olrik, Danish folklorist and scholar of medieval historiography
- Axel Orrström, Finnish footballer
- Axel Ottosson, Swedish ice hockey player
- Axel Oxenstierna Swedish statesman
- Axel Palmgren, Finnish lawyer, civil servant, business executive and politician
- Axel Paulsen, Norwegian figure skater and speed skater
- Axel Pehrsson-Bramstorp, Swedish politician and former Prime Minister of Sweden
- Axel Rudi Pell, German heavy metal guitarist
- Axel Perneczky, Hungarian neurosurgeon
- Axel Persson, Swedish cyclist
- Axel W. Persson, Swedish archaeologist
- Axel Peschel, German cyclist
- Axel Petersen Danish track and field athlete
- Axel Petersen, Danish footballer
- Axel Petersson, Swedish-Norwegian structural engineer and inventor
- Axel Petersson Döderhultarn, Swedish wood carver
- Axel Pilmark, Danish footballer
- Axel Poignant, Australian photographer
- Axel Poniatowski, French politician
- Axel Pons, Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer and model
- Axel Poulsen, Danish sculptor
- Axel Prahl, German actor
- Axel Preisler, Danish architect
- Axel Pretzsch, German tennis player
- Axel Proet Høst, Norwegian sports official
- Axel Rappe, Swedish Army general
- Axel Rappe, Swedish Army major general
- Axel Rauschenbach, German pair skater
- Axel de Reuterskiöld, Swedish Baron and philatelist
- Axel Revold, Norwegian painter, illustrator and art professor
- Axel Reymond, French marathon swimmer
- Axel Ripke, German journalist and politician
- Axel Rodrigues de Arruda, Brazilian footballer
- Axel Romdahl, Swedish art historian and museum curator
- Axel Roos, German footballer and coach
- Axel Rosenkrantz, Norwegian landowner and baron
- Axel Roth, German-born American NASA engineer
- Axel Rubbestad, Swedish politician
- Axel Runström, Swedish water polo player and diver
- Axel Ryding, Swedish Army lieutenant general
- Axel Salzmann, German pair skater
- Axel Seeberg, Norwegian archaeologist
- Axel Siefer, German actor
- Axel Simonsen, Norwegian long distance runner
- Axel Sjöberg, Swedish footballer
- Axel Sjöblad, Swedish handball player
- Axel Sjöblom, Swedish gymnast
- Axel Skovgaard, Danish-born American violinist
- Axel Smeets, Belgian footballer and manager
- Axel Smith, Norwegian priest and topographer
- Axel Sømme, Norwegian geographer, political activist, magazine and newspaper editor
- Axel Springer, German publisher
- Axel Ståhle, Swedish Army officer and equestrian
- Axel Stawski, American real estate developer and investor
- Axel Stein, German actor
- Axel Stoll, German geophysicist and conspiracy theorist
- Axel Stordahl, American composer and arranger
- Axel Strand, Swedish trade union organizer
- Axel Strauss, German violinist music professor
- Axel Strøbye, Danish actor
- Axel Strøm, Norwegian physician
- Axel Sundermann, German former footballer
- Axel Sundquist, American sailor
- Axel Svendsen, Danish canoeist
- Axel Sveinsson, Icelandic civil engineer
- Axel Tallberg, Swedish visual artist and engraver
- Axel Teichmann, German cross-country skier
- Axel Tetens, Danish wrestler
- Axel Thallaug, Norwegian lawyer and politician
- Axel Thayssen, Danish tennis player
- Axel Tony, French singer
- Axel Törneman, Swedish painter
- Axel Toupane, French basketball player
- Axel Troost, German economist and politician
- Axel Tuanzebe, Congolese-born British footballer
- Axel Ullrich, German biologist, oncologist and cancer researcher
- Axel Urup, Danish military engineer and commander and judge
- Axel Vennersten, Swedish politician
- Axel Villanueva, Nicaraguan footballer
- Axel Vogt, American railroad mechanical engineer
- Axel Voss, German politician
- Axel Wachtmeister, Count of Mälsåker, Swedish count and field marshal
- Axel Wahlstedt, Swedish sports shooter
- Axel Wallengren, Swedish author, poet, and journalist
- Axel A. Weber, German economist, professor and banker
- Axel Weber, German pole vaulter
- Axel Wegner, German sports shooter
- Axel Weishaupt German diplomat
- Axel Welin, Swedish inventor and industrialist
- Axel Wenner-Gren, Swedish entrepreneur
- Axel Werner, Argentine footballer
- Axel Westermark, American sailor
- Axel Wibrån, Swedish footballer
- Axel Wieandt, German businessman
- Axel Wikström, Swedish cross-country skier
- Axel Williams, Tahitian footballer
- Axel Willner, Swedish electronic music
- Axel Witsel, Belgian footballer
- Axel Wittke, German footballer
- Axel Zeebroek, Belgian triathlete
- Axel Zitzmann, German ski jumper
- Axel Zwingenberger, German blues and boogie-woogie pianist
Fictional characters
- Axl, a character from the series Nexo Knights
- Axel Blaze, the English name for Gouenji Shuuya, a main character in the manga and anime Inazuma Eleven by Tenya Yabuno.
- Axel Foley, a leading character in the film Beverly Hills Cop
- Axl Heck, a character in the tv series The Middle
- Axel Hawk, a character from the video game series Fatal Fury
- Axel the Dark Hero, a character from the Disgaea video game series
- Axel Jordache, a character in Irwin Shaw's novel Rich Man, Poor Man: the father of the novel's three central characters, Gretchen, Rudolph and Thomas Jordache
- Akseli Koskela, fictional character in the Finnish novel Täällä Pohjantähden alla by Väinö Linna
- Axel Rex, a character in Vladimir Nabokov's novel Laughter in the Dark
- Axel Steel, a character in the Guitar Hero video game series
- Axel Stone, a character from the Streets of Rage video game series
- Axel Thurston, a character in the anime series Eureka Seven
- Axel the Water Buffalo, a villain from the Sonic the Hedgehog comic from Archie Comics
- Axel, a character from the Kingdom Hearts video game series
- Axel, a Belgian steam locomotive in the Thomas & Friends film
- Axel, a protagonist in Jules Verne's A Journey to the Center of the Earth
- Axl, a protagonist in Kazuo Ishiguro's The Buried Giant
- Axel, a former prisoner and member of the group of survivors on the TV series The Walking Dead
- Axel, a character from the book The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare
- Axl, a character from the Mega Man X series.
- Axl Low, a character from the Guilty Gear series of fighting games.
As a surname
- Curtis Axel, ring name of American professional wrestler Joseph Curtis Hennig
- Gabriel Axel, Danish filmmaker
- Richard Axel, American scientist