Ancil
Ancil was last recorded in 2017, when 5 babies were given it; 1,099 Americans have been recorded with it between 1888 and 2017 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ancil by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ancil?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #12,365, in 2017; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
35 babies in 1920, the peak
Ancil peaked in 1920, when 35 boys were given it, #1,226 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 5 | #12,365 | 2.7 |
| 2015 | 5 | #12,192 | 2.6 |
| 1995 | 5 | #8,931 | 2.6 |
| 1994 | 5 | #8,840 | 2.6 |
| 1991 | 5 | #8,273 | 2.5 |
| 1988 | 5 | #7,319 | 2.6 |
| 1986 | 6 | #5,951 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 5 | #6,561 | 2.7 |
| 1982 | 7 | #5,034 | 3.9 |
| 1981 | 5 | #6,311 | 2.8 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 7 | #4,573 | 4.3 |
| 1976 | 6 | #4,958 | 3.8 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,251 | 3.2 |
| 1972 | 5 | #5,010 | 3.1 |
| 1971 | 6 | #4,393 | 3.4 |
| 1970 | 7 | #3,858 | 3.8 |
| 1969 | 7 | #3,604 | 3.9 |
| 1968 | 5 | #4,156 | 2.9 |
| 1967 | 7 | #3,241 | 4.0 |
| 1966 | 9 | #2,790 | 5.0 |
| 1963 | 10 | #2,674 | 4.9 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,316 | 3.4 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,710 | 4.7 |
| 1960 | 8 | #3,087 | 3.8 |
| 1959 | 6 | #3,632 | 2.8 |
| 1958 | 10 | #2,649 | 4.7 |
| 1957 | 9 | #2,830 | 4.2 |
| 1956 | 11 | #2,497 | 5.2 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,517 | 2.9 |
| 1954 | 16 | #1,956 | 7.8 |
| 1953 | 15 | #2,043 | 7.6 |
| 1952 | 15 | #2,010 | 7.7 |
| 1951 | 12 | #2,251 | 6.4 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,586 | 5.0 |
| 1949 | 15 | #1,941 | 8.5 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,116 | 7.4 |
| 1947 | 22 | #1,600 | 12.0 |
| 1946 | 15 | #1,885 | 9.2 |
| 1945 | 15 | #1,775 | 11.1 |
| 1944 | 22 | #1,440 | 16.1 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,579 | 14.0 |
| 1942 | 19 | #1,631 | 13.8 |
| 1941 | 17 | #1,688 | 13.8 |
| 1940 | 16 | #1,738 | 13.8 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,492 | 18.1 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,562 | 17.1 |
| 1937 | 20 | #1,529 | 18.8 |
| 1936 | 22 | #1,419 | 21.2 |
| 1935 | 20 | #1,541 | 19.2 |
| 1934 | 23 | #1,425 | 22.3 |
| 1933 | 19 | #1,589 | 19.2 |
| 1932 | 24 | #1,428 | 23.0 |
| 1931 | 15 | #1,929 | 14.4 |
| 1930 | 33 | #1,236 | 30.1 |
| 1929 | 19 | #1,733 | 17.7 |
| 1928 | 25 | #1,481 | 22.6 |
| 1927 | 26 | #1,470 | 23.1 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,193 | 12.6 |
| 1925 | 29 | #1,361 | 26.0 |
| 1924 | 33 | #1,263 | 29.1 |
| 1923 | 18 | #1,875 | 16.4 |
| 1922 | 24 | #1,547 | 22.1 |
| 1921 | 29 | #1,391 | 26.3 |
| 1920 | 35 | #1,226 | 32.9 |
| 1919 | 16 | #1,976 | 16.3 |
| 1918 | 27 | #1,373 | 26.6 |
| 1917 | 24 | #1,443 | 25.9 |
| 1916 | 27 | #1,305 | 30.3 |
| 1915 | 26 | #1,307 | 30.6 |
| 1914 | 17 | #1,494 | 26.0 |
| 1913 | 10 | #1,808 | 19.5 |
| 1912 | 12 | #1,421 | 27.9 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,392 | 31.0 |
| 1908 | 5 | #1,377 | 32.4 |
| 1907 | 5 | #1,354 | 34.1 |
| 1901 | 6 | #949 | 56.4 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,085 | 42.6 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,039 | 44.5 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,040 | 41.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ancil a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ancil has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 79 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ancil: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ancil, and how old are they?
An estimated 305 Americans named Ancil and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (28% of everyone recorded); the median is 70 years old and half are between 55 and 79. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 538 people named Ancil (19 women and girls, 519 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 390 born in the U.S. The Census count is 38% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ancil born?
The states with the most babies named Ancil are Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia, with 89% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Kentucky and Tennessee and West Virginia are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kentucky | 115 | not ranked | 4.5× |
| Tennessee | 22 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| West Virginia | 10 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Indiana | 7 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Arkansas | 6 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Ancil is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ancil is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 4.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ancil with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,850 babies since 1880, Ancil is the most given (59% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ancil
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ancil and names like it
- Compare Ancil and AncelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sAncil peaked in 1920.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ancil since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Ancil.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ancil alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with AMost given first.