Niels
Niels was given to 15 boys in 2025, #6,057 among boys’ names; 1,462 Americans have been recorded with it since 1893 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,020 Americans named Niels and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (70% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 19 and 59.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Niels by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Niels mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Niels is “a male given name”
From Danish Niels.
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Niels?
#6,057 among boys’ names, 2025
Niels fell from #5,213 in 2015 to #6,057 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 9.4 to 8.8 per million.
31 babies in 1957, the peak
Niels peaked in 1957, when 31 boys were given it, #1,425 among boys’ names. The 15 births of 2025 are 48% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 15 | #6,057 | 8.8 |
| 2024 | 14 | #6,376 | 8.1 |
| 2023 | 7 | #10,483 | 4.1 |
| 2022 | 18 | #5,361 | 10.3 |
| 2021 | 10 | #7,984 | 5.7 |
| 2020 | 12 | #6,909 | 7.0 |
| 2019 | 14 | #6,312 | 7.8 |
| 2018 | 7 | #10,419 | 3.9 |
| 2017 | 14 | #6,242 | 7.6 |
| 2016 | 21 | #4,720 | 11.1 |
Every recorded year (116)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18 | #5,213 | 9.4 |
| 2014 | 17 | #5,411 | 8.9 |
| 2013 | 14 | #6,145 | 7.4 |
| 2012 | 15 | #5,900 | 7.9 |
| 2011 | 14 | #6,154 | 7.4 |
| 2010 | 17 | #5,406 | 8.9 |
| 2009 | 6 | #12,037 | 3.0 |
| 2008 | 10 | #8,110 | 4.9 |
| 2007 | 14 | #6,166 | 6.7 |
| 2006 | 10 | #7,836 | 4.9 |
| 2005 | 11 | #6,970 | 5.5 |
| 2004 | 11 | #6,841 | 5.5 |
| 2003 | 13 | #5,778 | 6.6 |
| 2002 | 15 | #5,067 | 7.7 |
| 2001 | 21 | #3,934 | 10.8 |
| 2000 | 13 | #5,488 | 6.6 |
| 1999 | 14 | #4,943 | 7.3 |
| 1998 | 13 | #5,093 | 6.8 |
| 1997 | 8 | #7,081 | 4.2 |
| 1996 | 14 | #4,540 | 7.4 |
| 1995 | 12 | #5,022 | 6.3 |
| 1994 | 14 | #4,463 | 7.2 |
| 1993 | 15 | #4,162 | 7.6 |
| 1992 | 13 | #4,501 | 6.5 |
| 1991 | 12 | #4,676 | 5.9 |
| 1990 | 17 | #3,555 | 8.3 |
| 1989 | 11 | #4,718 | 5.5 |
| 1988 | 11 | #4,366 | 5.7 |
| 1987 | 9 | #4,838 | 4.8 |
| 1986 | 12 | #3,806 | 6.5 |
| 1985 | 18 | #2,791 | 9.7 |
| 1984 | 16 | #2,911 | 8.9 |
| 1983 | 11 | #3,796 | 6.1 |
| 1982 | 13 | #3,431 | 7.2 |
| 1981 | 17 | #2,745 | 9.5 |
| 1980 | 10 | #4,045 | 5.6 |
| 1979 | 13 | #3,301 | 7.6 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,885 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 12 | #3,319 | 7.3 |
| 1976 | 11 | #3,413 | 7.0 |
| 1975 | 13 | #3,024 | 8.3 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,897 | 8.3 |
| 1973 | 17 | #2,377 | 10.9 |
| 1972 | 15 | #2,505 | 9.3 |
| 1971 | 9 | #3,572 | 5.1 |
| 1970 | 20 | #2,038 | 10.8 |
| 1969 | 18 | #2,026 | 10.1 |
| 1968 | 19 | #1,877 | 10.9 |
| 1967 | 15 | #2,101 | 8.6 |
| 1966 | 13 | #2,303 | 7.3 |
| 1965 | 16 | #2,050 | 8.6 |
| 1964 | 20 | #1,837 | 10.0 |
| 1963 | 15 | #2,172 | 7.4 |
| 1962 | 17 | #2,010 | 8.2 |
| 1961 | 17 | #2,050 | 8.0 |
| 1960 | 6 | #3,938 | 2.8 |
| 1959 | 17 | #2,019 | 8.0 |
| 1958 | 17 | #1,997 | 8.0 |
| 1957 | 31 | #1,425 | 14.4 |
| 1956 | 16 | #2,067 | 7.6 |
| 1955 | 20 | #1,767 | 9.7 |
| 1954 | 19 | #1,801 | 9.3 |
| 1953 | 14 | #2,159 | 7.1 |
| 1952 | 14 | #2,127 | 7.2 |
| 1951 | 12 | #2,333 | 6.4 |
| 1950 | 20 | #1,690 | 11.2 |
| 1949 | 9 | #2,745 | 5.1 |
| 1948 | 15 | #2,000 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 14 | #2,142 | 7.7 |
| 1946 | 5 | #3,869 | 3.1 |
| 1945 | 8 | #2,700 | 5.9 |
| 1944 | 9 | #2,581 | 6.6 |
| 1943 | 11 | #2,365 | 7.7 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,128 | 5.1 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,394 | 4.9 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,804 | 6.9 |
| 1939 | 9 | #2,567 | 8.1 |
| 1938 | 5 | #3,883 | 4.5 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,164 | 11.3 |
| 1936 | 5 | #3,912 | 4.8 |
| 1935 | 6 | #3,536 | 5.8 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,695 | 8.7 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,491 | 10.1 |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,022 | 7.7 |
| 1931 | 9 | #2,813 | 8.7 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,262 | 11.8 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,285 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,602 | 9.9 |
| 1927 | 17 | #2,011 | 15.1 |
| 1926 | 9 | #3,065 | 8.1 |
| 1925 | 11 | #2,698 | 9.9 |
| 1924 | 7 | #3,742 | 6.2 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,711 | 6.4 |
| 1922 | 11 | #2,752 | 10.1 |
| 1921 | 13 | #2,467 | 11.8 |
| 1920 | 11 | #2,715 | 10.3 |
| 1919 | 10 | #2,810 | 10.2 |
| 1918 | 11 | #2,655 | 10.9 |
| 1917 | 11 | #2,520 | 11.9 |
| 1916 | 5 | #4,317 | 5.6 |
| 1915 | 14 | #2,040 | 16.5 |
| 1914 | 12 | #1,935 | 18.3 |
| 1913 | 7 | #2,430 | 13.7 |
| 1912 | 9 | #1,839 | 20.9 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,367 | 37.8 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,140 | 44.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Niels a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Niels has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 116 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Niels: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Niels, and how old are they?
1,020 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 70% of the 1,462 Americans ever recorded as Niels. The median Niels alive today is 40 years old; half are between 19 and 59.
The 2020 Census counted 1,397 people named Niels (8 women and girls, 1,389 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,008 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 29 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 201 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 201 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 204 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 202 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 180 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
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 3 names spelled alike, given to 9,000 babies since 1880, Niels is the third most given (16% of them). In 2025 it was given to 15 of their 89 babies (17%), again the third most given.
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 Niels
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 Niels and names like it
- Compare Niels and NilesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sNiels peaked in 1957.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Niels since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Niels: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1957The year the most babies were named Niels.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Niels alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with NMost given first.