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Boy · Irish
Neil
Say it: NEEL
Meaning
From Irish Niall, of uncertain meaning; 'champion' and 'cloud' have both been proposed.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Taken from Gaelic into Norse as Njáll and into Norman England; popular in the US from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 103,695 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1953, about 1 in 1,000 boys
- 321 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Neal, Niall
| Irish | Niall |
|---|---|
| Old Norse | Njáll |
Famous bearers
- Neil Armstrong, American astronaut
- Neil Young, Canadian musician
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Irish annals and early Irish literature
- The Icelandic sagas and other Old Norse literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- 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.