Neil

Primarily a boy's name · 100% boys

Meaning

Neil is a masculine name of Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".

From Wikipedia

Neil first appears in the data in 1952 and has been recorded in 37 different years as a boy's name. Its single biggest year was 1961 with 423 babies (rank #40 that year). It was not in the 2025 data. The name has been declining over the last five years.

Numerology of Neil

In Pythagorean numerology, every letter has a value from 1 to 9. Adding the letters of Neil yields these three numbers — a playful read on the name's character.

22Destiny numberThe master builderTurns visions into structures — a heightened 4.Sum of every letter. The overall character a name carries.
5Soul urgeThe free spiritCurious, restless, energised by change.Sum of the vowels — what's said to drive the heart.
8PersonalityThe achieverDriven, capable, comfortable wielding influence.Sum of the consonants — the outer impression.

7,420

Total babies (all years)

Years in the data

423

Peak in a single year

Popularity Over Time — Boys

Also a character in

In The Office (UK): Neil Godwin — Swindon manager, David's rival

Famous people named Neil

Neil Armstrongmilitary flight engineer · b. 1930
Neil Gaimantelevision writer · b. 1960
Neil deGrasse Tysonscience communicator · b. 1958
Neil Youngautobiographer · b. 1945
Neil Patrick Harrisautobiographer · b. 1973

More popular boys' names

Other boys' names starting with N

Year-by-Year Detail

Rank is among all boys' names registered that year.

Year	Babies	Rank
1952	233	#42
1953	303	#35
1954	306	#34
1955	322	#32
1956	299	#37
1957	299	#37
1958	291	#35
1959	288	#39
1960	402	#42
1961	423	#40
1962	423	#35
1963	400	#39
1964	295	#50
1965	252	#52
1966	220	#63
1967	230	#57
1968	219	#63
1969	283	#49
1970	193	#72
1971	185	#74
1972	145	#82
1973	143	#82
1974	143	#84
1975	135	#84
1976	127	#87
1977	155	#76
1978	134	#86
1979	126	#88
1980	111	#90
1981	126	#92
1982	44	#111
1983	42	#113
1985	114	#91
2014	3	#463
2015	1	#1,892
2016	3	#487
2017	2	#716