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 1996 and has been recorded in 21 different years as a boy's name. Its single biggest year was 1996 with 132 babies (rank #232 that year). It was not in the 2024 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.

1,241

Total babies (all years)

Years in the data

132

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
1996	132	#232
1997	112	#257
1998	103	#271
1999	70	#346
2000	67	#360
2001	61	#388
2002	46	#476
2003	48	#507
2004	51	#517
2005	51	#530
2006	52	#571
2007	35	#780
2008	39	#753
2009	56	#585
2010	54	#611
2011	64	#552
2012	45	#745
2013	32	#924
2014	42	#762
2015	30	#990
2016	51	#686