# Nils (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/nils/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 3,083 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 3,083 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 150, 1996 to 2025 |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 18 | 5,136 |
| 2012 | 26 | 3,974 |
| 2013 | 25 | 4,031 |
| 2014 | 22 | 4,490 |
| 2015 | 20 | 4,841 |
| 2016 | 21 | 4,723 |
| 2017 | 18 | 5,243 |
| 2018 | 25 | 4,186 |
| 2019 | 20 | 4,922 |
| 2020 | 20 | 4,812 |
| 2021 | 14 | 6,244 |
| 2022 | 15 | 6,064 |
| 2023 | 24 | 4,428 |
| 2024 | 20 | 5,001 |
| 2025 | 20 | 4,993 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 8 | 2,211 |
| 2008 | 10 | 1,953 |
| 2009 | 11 | 1,859 |
| 2010 | 5 | 3,332 |
| 2011 | 6 | 2,892 |
| 2012 | 7 | 2,721 |
| 2014 | 9 | 2,248 |
| 2015 | 9 | 2,319 |
| 2016 | 3 | 4,810 |
| 2017 | 3 | 4,812 |
| 2018 | 4 | 3,959 |
| 2019 | 5 | 3,411 |
| 2021 | 4 | 3,990 |
| 2024 | 4 | 4,270 |
| 2025 | 4 | 4,275 |

## People named Nils

- Nils Petersen, German association football player
- Nils Schumann, German middle-distance runner
- Nils Politt, German cyclist
- Nils Lofgren, American rock musician
- Nils Torvalds, Finnish broadcast journalist, writer and politician, former Member of European Parliament
- Nils Engdahl, athletics competitor (1898-1983)
- Nils Middelboe, Danish footballer (1887-1976)
- Nils Skoglund, diver (1906–1980)
- Nils Seethaler, German cultural anthropologist
- Nils Nielsen, Danish association football player and manager
- Nils Malmros, Danish film director
- Nils Björklöf, Canoe racer (1921–1987)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.