Nigel
Nigel was given to 71 boys in 2025, #2,088 among boys’ names; 12,371 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 11,800 Americans named Nigel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 20 and 38.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nigel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nigel mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nigel is “a male given name from Latin, of mostly British usage.” Its etymology gives the senses “slightly black” (nigellus) and “black” (niger).
English form of Latin Nigellus, from nigellus (“slightly black”), diminutive of niger (“black”), used in the Middle Ages to Latinize Norman Néel and Old Irish Níall, from which the former is derived via Old Norse Njáll. Compare Neil.
/ˈnaɪd͡ʒəl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nigel?
#2,088 among boys’ names, 2025
Nigel fell from #1,115 in 2015 to #2,088 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 90.3 to 41.6 per million.
455 babies in 1994, the peak
Nigel peaked in 1994, when 455 babies were given it (448 boys, #478 among boys’ names). The 71 births of 2025 are 16% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 71 | #2,088 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 66 | #2,205 | 0.04 |
| 2023 | 73 | #2,056 | 0.04 |
| 2022 | 71 | #2,110 | 0.04 |
| 2021 | 94 | #1,735 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 80 | #1,865 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 108 | #1,559 | 0.06 |
| 2018 | 125 | #1,405 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 150 | #1,227 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 146 | #1,260 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (84)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 173 | #1,115 | 0.09 |
| 2014 | 155 | #1,195 | 0.08 |
| 2013 | 170 | #1,094 | 0.09 |
| 2012 | 178 | #1,068 | 0.09 |
| 2011 | 194 | #1,003 | 0.10 |
| 2010 | 216 | #935 | 0.11 |
| 2009 | 249 | #859 | 0.13 |
| 2008 | 271 | #811 | 0.13 |
| 2007 | 303 | #742 | 0.15 |
| 2006 | 309 | #709 | 0.15 |
| 2005 | 276 | #735 | 0.14 |
| 2004 | 237 | #766 | 0.12 |
| 2003 | 266 | #708 | 0.13 |
| 2002 | 280 | #668 | 0.14 |
| 2001 | 305 | #623 | 0.16 |
| 2000 | 349 | #577 | 0.18 |
| 1999 | 361 | #556 | 0.19 |
| 1998 | 373 | #537 | 0.20 |
| 1997 | 372 | #537 | 0.20 |
| 1996 | 383 | #523 | 0.20 |
| 1995 | 405 | #507 | 0.21 |
| 1994 | 448 | #478 | 0.23 |
| 1993 | 432 | #488 | 0.22 |
| 1992 | 384 | #519 | 0.19 |
| 1991 | 318 | #567 | 0.16 |
| 1990 | 315 | #570 | 0.15 |
| 1989 | 286 | #578 | 0.14 |
| 1988 | 240 | #613 | 0.13 |
| 1987 | 208 | #636 | 0.11 |
| 1986 | 208 | #622 | 0.11 |
| 1985 | 194 | #632 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 154 | #705 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 161 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1982 | 145 | #721 | 0.08 |
| 1981 | 191 | #618 | 0.11 |
| 1980 | 165 | #676 | 0.09 |
| 1979 | 145 | #720 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 117 | #784 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 146 | #705 | 0.09 |
| 1976 | 123 | #752 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 132 | #722 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 90 | #848 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 95 | #815 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 89 | #854 | 0.05 |
| 1971 | 95 | #834 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 56 | #1,099 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 55 | #1,047 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 44 | #1,141 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 44 | #1,123 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 23 | #1,640 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 27 | #1,503 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 28 | #1,501 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 22 | #1,727 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 26 | #1,576 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 26 | #1,590 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 22 | #1,754 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 22 | #1,747 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 24 | #1,629 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 29 | #1,473 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 15 | #2,147 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 26 | #1,527 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 20 | #1,744 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 10 | #2,661 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 11 | #2,465 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 5 | #4,094 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,715 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #4,065 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 9 | #2,733 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 7 | #3,274 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 6 | #3,419 | under 0.01 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,055 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #3,914 | under 0.01 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,196 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #3,832 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nigel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nigel has been given almost only to boys: 85 girls in 87 years of records.
Girls and boys named Nigel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nigel, and how old are they?
11,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 12,371 Americans ever recorded as Nigel. The median Nigel alive today is 29 years old; half are between 20 and 38.
The 2020 Census counted 14,004 people named Nigel (139 women and girls, 13,865 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 11,515 born in the U.S. The Census count is 22% 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 | 4 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 226 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,330 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,460 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,470 |
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).
Where are babies named Nigel born?
The states with the most babies named Nigel are California, Florida and Texas, with 79% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7 | #2,143 | 0.7× |
| Florida | 7 | #1,584 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 5 | #2,844 | 0.5× |
| South Carolina | 5 | #836 | 1.7× |
Where Nigel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nigel is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1915 it was given 1.8 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 Nigel 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 13,135 babies since 1880, Nigel is the most given (94% of them). In 2025 it was given to 71 of their 71 babies (100%), again the 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 Nigel
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 Nigel and names like it
- Compare Nigel and NygelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sNigel peaked in 1994.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nigel since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Nigel: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1994The year the most babies were named Nigel.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Nigel alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with NMost given first.