Neale
Neale was last recorded in 2012, when 5 babies were given it; 920 Americans have been recorded with it between 1916 and 2012 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Neale by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Neale mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Neale is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
Also “a male given name transferred from the surname, of rare usage, variant of Neil.”
/niːl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Neale?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #13,624, in 2012; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
28 babies in 1937, the peak
Neale peaked in 1937, when 28 boys were given it, #1,283 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 5 | #13,624 | 2.6 |
| 1999 | 5 | #11,079 | 2.6 |
| 1997 | 6 | #8,931 | 3.2 |
| 1994 | 5 | #9,811 | 2.6 |
| 1991 | 6 | #7,938 | 3.0 |
| 1989 | 11 | #4,715 | 5.5 |
| 1987 | 9 | #4,830 | 4.8 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,473 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 12 | #3,731 | 6.5 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,438 | 5.0 |
Every recorded year (76)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | 6 | #6,000 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 9 | #4,476 | 5.0 |
| 1981 | 9 | #4,390 | 5.0 |
| 1980 | 7 | #5,327 | 3.9 |
| 1979 | 10 | #3,986 | 5.8 |
| 1978 | 5 | #6,474 | 3.0 |
| 1977 | 5 | #6,537 | 3.0 |
| 1976 | 8 | #4,289 | 5.1 |
| 1975 | 5 | #6,036 | 3.2 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,755 | 3.2 |
| 1973 | 12 | #2,967 | 7.7 |
| 1972 | 6 | #4,797 | 3.7 |
| 1970 | 6 | #4,569 | 3.2 |
| 1969 | 6 | #4,264 | 3.4 |
| 1968 | 10 | #2,853 | 5.8 |
| 1967 | 6 | #3,846 | 3.4 |
| 1966 | 10 | #2,736 | 5.6 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,807 | 3.2 |
| 1964 | 7 | #3,509 | 3.5 |
| 1963 | 10 | #2,803 | 4.9 |
| 1962 | 11 | #2,623 | 5.3 |
| 1961 | 11 | #2,652 | 5.2 |
| 1960 | 15 | #2,177 | 7.0 |
| 1959 | 9 | #2,977 | 4.2 |
| 1958 | 12 | #2,464 | 5.7 |
| 1957 | 12 | #2,453 | 5.6 |
| 1956 | 10 | #2,737 | 4.7 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,704 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,707 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 9 | #2,849 | 4.6 |
| 1952 | 12 | #2,342 | 6.2 |
| 1951 | 12 | #2,331 | 6.4 |
| 1950 | 14 | #2,088 | 7.8 |
| 1949 | 18 | #1,801 | 10.1 |
| 1948 | 17 | #1,861 | 9.7 |
| 1947 | 25 | #1,507 | 13.7 |
| 1946 | 13 | #2,114 | 8.0 |
| 1945 | 17 | #1,679 | 12.6 |
| 1944 | 18 | #1,663 | 13.2 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,364 | 7.7 |
| 1942 | 19 | #1,664 | 13.8 |
| 1941 | 17 | #1,734 | 13.8 |
| 1940 | 13 | #2,056 | 11.2 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,520 | 18.1 |
| 1938 | 9 | #2,594 | 8.1 |
| 1937 | 28 | #1,283 | 26.3 |
| 1936 | 21 | #1,492 | 20.2 |
| 1935 | 16 | #1,811 | 15.4 |
| 1934 | 19 | #1,652 | 18.4 |
| 1933 | 16 | #1,810 | 16.1 |
| 1932 | 21 | #1,569 | 20.1 |
| 1931 | 19 | #1,676 | 18.3 |
| 1930 | 21 | #1,638 | 19.1 |
| 1929 | 23 | #1,554 | 21.4 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,126 | 13.5 |
| 1927 | 14 | #2,260 | 12.4 |
| 1926 | 12 | #2,516 | 10.8 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,662 | 19.7 |
| 1924 | 11 | #2,775 | 9.7 |
| 1923 | 16 | #2,090 | 14.6 |
| 1922 | 12 | #2,589 | 11.0 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,626 | 20.9 |
| 1920 | 17 | #2,024 | 16.0 |
| 1919 | 9 | #3,046 | 9.2 |
| 1918 | 13 | #2,356 | 12.8 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,310 | 5.6 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Neale a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Neale has been given almost only to boys: 5 girls in 76 years of records.
Girls and boys named Neale: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Neale, and how old are they?
An estimated 400 Americans named Neale and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (44% of everyone recorded); the median is 63 years old and half are between 47 and 76. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 669 people named Neale (71 women and girls, 598 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 481 born in the U.S. The Census count is 39% 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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,875 babies since 1880, Neale is the second most given (49% 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 Neale
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 Neale and names like it
- Compare Neale and NelloBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sNeale peaked in 1937.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Neale since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Neale: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1937The year the most babies were named Neale.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Neale alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with NMost given first.