Neil

What Neil means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Neil yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1954, with 1,959 babies; 288 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Neil?

US: Falling: down from #641 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #977 in 2015, #914 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1933, when 997 boys got the name (#149 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 5,931 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 7,998 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in UT (0.46 per 1,000 boys), WA (0.46 per 1,000 boys), NJ (0.43 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Neil is #850 in the US and #914 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Neil were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Noel635 US · 65 E&W
• Nael263 US · 52 E&W
• Neel108 US · 18 E&W
• Nile86 US · 20 E&W
• Naol5 US
• Naail0 US · 3 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Neal
• Neale
• Neill

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Neil

Boys

• Roy#525“king”^*
• Donald#690“prince / chief of the world”^*
• Kenneth#294“handsome”^*
• Allen#578Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1951, with 5,179 babies; 507 in 2025
• Shawn#681“God is gracious”^*
• Marvin#699Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1928, with 4,452 babies; 385 in 2025

For a sister

• Meredith#469“great lord”^*
• Jennifer#586Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1972, with 63,600 babies; 501 in 2025
• Bridget#724Editor’s note Down from #534 in 2015 to #724 in 2025 in the US
• Megan#887Diminutive of Margaret, meaning “pearl”^*
• Sabrina#321Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1997, with 5,816 babies; 956 in 2025
• Briana#661Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1994, with 5,000 babies; 431 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Neil’s. Rank is US 2025.