[2] Until about 1865, Hazel was a rare name that was primarily in masculine use in the United States.

A sympathetic character in the 1880 play Hazel Kirke by Steele MacKaye helped popularize it as a feminine name in the late 1800s.

It later fell out of fashion but has increased in popularity due to the influence of the character Hazel Grace Lancaster in the 2012 novel The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and its 2014 film adaptation.

It has ranked among the top 50 names for newborn girls in the United States since 2017.

Other names in use such as Hazelee, Hazeleigh, Hazelyn and Hazelynn might in some instances be variants.