Nils
Nils was given to 20 boys in 2025, #4,992 among boys’ names; 3,083 Americans have been recorded with it since 1888 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,090 Americans named Nils and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (68% of everyone recorded); the median is 42 years old and half are between 24 and 61.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nils by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nils mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Nils is “a male given name from Swedish or Norwegian”
Borrowed from Swedish Nils.
/niːls/
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nils?
#4,992 among boys’ names, 2025
Nils fell from #4,839 in 2015 to #4,992 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 10.4 to 11.7 per million.
48 babies in 1970, the peak
Nils peaked in 1970, when 48 boys were given it, #1,202 among boys’ names. The 20 births of 2025 are 42% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 20 | #4,992 | 11.7 |
| 2024 | 20 | #4,997 | 11.6 |
| 2023 | 24 | #4,424 | 14.0 |
| 2022 | 15 | #6,059 | 8.6 |
| 2021 | 14 | #6,239 | 8.0 |
| 2020 | 20 | #4,808 | 11.6 |
| 2019 | 20 | #4,918 | 11.1 |
| 2018 | 25 | #4,182 | 13.8 |
| 2017 | 18 | #5,239 | 9.7 |
| 2016 | 21 | #4,722 | 11.1 |
Every recorded year (116)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 20 | #4,839 | 10.4 |
| 2014 | 22 | #4,486 | 11.5 |
| 2013 | 25 | #4,029 | 13.2 |
| 2012 | 26 | #3,971 | 13.7 |
| 2011 | 18 | #5,132 | 9.5 |
| 2010 | 31 | #3,509 | 16.2 |
| 2009 | 23 | #4,387 | 11.6 |
| 2008 | 24 | #4,224 | 11.8 |
| 2007 | 23 | #4,323 | 11.1 |
| 2006 | 31 | #3,431 | 15.1 |
| 2005 | 25 | #3,784 | 12.5 |
| 2004 | 18 | #4,722 | 9.1 |
| 2003 | 23 | #3,807 | 11.6 |
| 2002 | 30 | #3,062 | 15.5 |
| 2001 | 39 | #2,509 | 20.1 |
| 2000 | 29 | #3,046 | 14.8 |
| 1999 | 39 | #2,326 | 20.3 |
| 1998 | 23 | #3,359 | 12.0 |
| 1997 | 29 | #2,728 | 15.4 |
| 1996 | 34 | #2,361 | 17.9 |
| 1995 | 26 | #2,816 | 13.7 |
| 1994 | 35 | #2,281 | 18.1 |
| 1993 | 35 | #2,241 | 17.8 |
| 1992 | 31 | #2,389 | 15.5 |
| 1991 | 28 | #2,519 | 13.9 |
| 1990 | 36 | #2,066 | 17.5 |
| 1989 | 26 | #2,520 | 13.0 |
| 1988 | 24 | #2,485 | 12.5 |
| 1987 | 23 | #2,435 | 12.3 |
| 1986 | 32 | #1,903 | 17.4 |
| 1985 | 32 | #1,857 | 17.3 |
| 1984 | 26 | #2,082 | 14.4 |
| 1983 | 27 | #1,998 | 15.1 |
| 1982 | 24 | #2,193 | 13.2 |
| 1981 | 24 | #2,178 | 13.4 |
| 1980 | 38 | #1,584 | 21.3 |
| 1979 | 38 | #1,556 | 22.1 |
| 1978 | 31 | #1,744 | 18.9 |
| 1977 | 23 | #2,109 | 14.0 |
| 1976 | 26 | #1,914 | 16.6 |
| 1975 | 30 | #1,690 | 19.2 |
| 1974 | 32 | #1,570 | 20.4 |
| 1973 | 23 | #1,910 | 14.8 |
| 1972 | 25 | #1,808 | 15.4 |
| 1971 | 34 | #1,489 | 19.2 |
| 1970 | 48 | #1,202 | 25.8 |
| 1969 | 41 | #1,246 | 22.9 |
| 1968 | 32 | #1,382 | 18.4 |
| 1967 | 30 | #1,401 | 17.2 |
| 1966 | 44 | #1,122 | 24.7 |
| 1965 | 31 | #1,399 | 16.7 |
| 1964 | 33 | #1,379 | 16.6 |
| 1963 | 39 | #1,248 | 19.2 |
| 1962 | 37 | #1,289 | 17.9 |
| 1961 | 36 | #1,343 | 16.9 |
| 1960 | 30 | #1,474 | 14.1 |
| 1959 | 29 | #1,488 | 13.6 |
| 1958 | 29 | #1,468 | 13.7 |
| 1957 | 36 | #1,312 | 16.7 |
| 1956 | 32 | #1,374 | 15.1 |
| 1955 | 34 | #1,306 | 16.5 |
| 1954 | 42 | #1,162 | 20.6 |
| 1953 | 27 | #1,469 | 13.7 |
| 1952 | 33 | #1,310 | 17.0 |
| 1951 | 18 | #1,814 | 9.6 |
| 1950 | 35 | #1,228 | 19.6 |
| 1949 | 32 | #1,290 | 18.0 |
| 1948 | 37 | #1,187 | 21.1 |
| 1947 | 25 | #1,508 | 13.7 |
| 1946 | 28 | #1,349 | 17.2 |
| 1945 | 23 | #1,400 | 17.1 |
| 1944 | 31 | #1,205 | 22.7 |
| 1943 | 16 | #1,884 | 11.2 |
| 1942 | 27 | #1,350 | 19.5 |
| 1941 | 25 | #1,364 | 20.4 |
| 1940 | 28 | #1,283 | 24.2 |
| 1939 | 22 | #1,448 | 19.9 |
| 1938 | 31 | #1,193 | 27.9 |
| 1937 | 25 | #1,365 | 23.4 |
| 1936 | 26 | #1,315 | 25.1 |
| 1935 | 27 | #1,319 | 25.9 |
| 1934 | 40 | #1,036 | 38.7 |
| 1933 | 31 | #1,195 | 31.3 |
| 1932 | 33 | #1,195 | 31.6 |
| 1931 | 26 | #1,381 | 25.0 |
| 1930 | 25 | #1,488 | 22.8 |
| 1929 | 31 | #1,287 | 28.8 |
| 1928 | 26 | #1,475 | 23.5 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,380 | 11.5 |
| 1926 | 20 | #1,770 | 18.0 |
| 1925 | 17 | #1,987 | 15.2 |
| 1924 | 23 | #1,663 | 20.3 |
| 1923 | 13 | #2,410 | 11.9 |
| 1922 | 14 | #2,311 | 12.9 |
| 1921 | 20 | #1,809 | 18.2 |
| 1920 | 18 | #1,940 | 16.9 |
| 1919 | 20 | #1,740 | 20.4 |
| 1918 | 18 | #1,880 | 17.8 |
| 1917 | 21 | #1,625 | 22.7 |
| 1916 | 22 | #1,534 | 24.7 |
| 1915 | 23 | #1,439 | 27.1 |
| 1914 | 16 | #1,588 | 24.4 |
| 1913 | 13 | #1,559 | 25.4 |
| 1912 | 10 | #1,704 | 23.3 |
| 1907 | 6 | #1,292 | 40.9 |
| 1888 | 7 | #889 | 57.9 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nils a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nils 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 Nils: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nils, and how old are they?
2,090 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 68% of the 3,083 Americans ever recorded as Nils. The median Nils alive today is 42 years old; half are between 24 and 61.
The 2020 Census counted 2,741 people named Nils (8 women and girls, 2,733 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,140 born in the U.S. The Census count is 28% 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 | 90 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 407 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 463 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 440 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 424 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 262 |
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 Nils born?
The states with the most babies named Nils are New York, California and Massachusetts, with 88% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Massachusetts is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 264 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| California | 221 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 26 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Minnesota | 24 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| New Jersey | 20 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Washington | 17 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
| Michigan | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
Where Nils is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nils is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.1 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 Nils 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 9,934 babies since 1880, Nils is the second most given (31% of them). In 2025 it was given to 20 of their 113 babies (18%), the third most given that year.
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 Nils
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 Nils and names like it
- Compare Nils and NilesBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sNils peaked in 1970.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nils since 1910.
- Swedish namesWiktionary’s origin for Nils: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Nils.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Nils alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with NMost given first.