Based on the Greek Angelos, this was originally a boy's name. In the Middle ages Angel, or its Latin equivalent Angelus, was quite well known in England, though never as widespread as in Spain, where it is still a popular name today (pronounced Ang-KHELL.) It was also popular in Italy as Angelo. As a boy's name in Britain it has more or less died out, though it did briefly reappear in the late 19th century when Thomas Hardy gave the name Angel Clare to the main male character in his famous novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles." Now it is occasionally used as a girl's name (more so in the USA) although the 18th century feminine form Angela is more typical. The older forms of Angela are Angelina and Angelica (as in Angelica Houston) but these are becoming rarer. The usual short form of all these names is Angie; the French spelling is Angéle.
