Boy · Ancient Greek
Basil
Say it: BAZ-ul
Meaning
Greek basileios, 'royal, kingly'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Very common in the Orthodox world as Vasiliy and Vasilios; used in England from the 19th century.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1910s
In the United States
- 13,024 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1915, about 1 in 3,500 boys
- 76 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
| French | Basile |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Basilio |
| Italian | Basilio |
| Portuguese | Basílio |
| German | Basilius |
| Polish | Bazyli |
| Russian | Vasiliy |
| Greek | Vasilios |
Famous bearers
- Basil the Great, 4th-century bishop of Caesarea
- Basil II, Byzantine emperor
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.