Nakul

#13,301 in 2025Boys' name

Mongoose

Nakul has been given to 205 babies in the U.S. since 1988. In 2025 it ranked #13,301 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2004, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Nakul, 2025

1 in 663,000

Nakul over time, 1880–2025

Boys

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nakul: meaning, origin, and history

Mongoose

Sanskrit

What Nakul means

Nakul means “mongoose”, associated with nakula.

Origin, language, and formation

Nakul is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 205 boys were recorded with the name Nakul between 1988 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 15 in 2004; its best national rank was #5,408 in 2004.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Nakul?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 663,000; 5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only: 1 in 342,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025: #13,301; of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 459,581 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Nakul sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nakul. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nakuls were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nakul was born before 2006 — so the typical Nakul is around 19 today.

Median birth year: 2006; About 19 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 45.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 77.1%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 205; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 45.4% of all recorded uses (93).

Is Nakul rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 33.3%; Peak was 2004 (15)
Years since peak: 21; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 51.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #5,408; 2004

Spellings of Nakul

Nakul is not the most common spelling — Paul is, with 90.1% against Nakul's 0.01%.

Paul90.1%1,398,293
Raul5.7%88,040
Saul2.8%43,288
Rahul0.21%3,332
Jakub0.20%3,067
Raoul0.19%2,915
Nahum0.14%2,197
Akil0.14%2,147

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Nakul around the world

Where Nakul ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

England & Wales
1998–2022
#4,790
in 2022

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Nakul by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: #13,301
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: New entry
Best rank ever: #5,408; 2004
Peak year: 2004; 15 that year
First recorded: 1988
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 205
Count in 2025: 5

Names similar to Nakul

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Nakhi Nakeem Nakari Naksh Nakota Nakai Nakoa Naki Nakoah Nakhai Nakye Nakoda Nakobe Akul Gokul Nakia Nakhari Nakoma Nakie Nakita Nakuma Nakio Mukul Nakiya

Sibling names for Nakul

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Shyann Halie Sydni Sydnie Alysa Jacquelin Allyssa Gabriel

For a brother

Aaden Kale Jarod Keven Zakary Elizabeth Garret Samual

Explore around Nakul

Top names of 2004, Nakul's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 2004 Boys' names starting with N