Name Awesome

Neale

Boys' name

Possibly cloud + champion, through Neil

Neale has been given to 920 babies in the U.S. since 1916. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1937, with 28 recorded.

Babies named Neale, 2012

1 in 732,000

Neale over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Neale: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly cloud + champion, through Neil

surname transfer

What Neale means

Neale belongs to the name family reached through Neale → Neil → Niall. Its meaning is “cloud + champion”.

Origin, language, and formation

Neale is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Neale is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Neil and Niall.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Neale is pronounced /niːl/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 915 boys were recorded with the name Neale between 1916 and 2012. Its highest annual count was 28 in 1937; its best national rank was #1,283 in 1937.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Neale between 1965 and 1965. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1965; its best national rank was #7,217 in 1965.

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 Neale?

Neale had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2012, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2012
1 in 732,000
5 of 3,657,590 births
Among boys only
1 in 379,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2012
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
507,051 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Neale 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 2012 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 507,051 children born in 2012 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Neale. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Neales were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Neale was born before 1944 — so the typical Neale is around 81 today.

Median birth year
1944
About 81 years old
Biggest decade
1930s
20.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
4.2%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
365
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1930s — 20.8% of all recorded uses (190).

Is Neale 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
0%
Peak was 1937 (28)
Years since peak
88
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
37.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,283
1937

Spellings of Neale

Neale is not the most common spelling — Dale is, with 50.0% against Neale's 0.16%.

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.

Where Neale is used

Across 1910–2025, Neale was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,664,768 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Neale has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Neale around the world

Where Neale 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.

  • Scotland
    1976–1997
    #403
    in 1997
  • South Australia
    1944–1991
    #481
    in 1991

Popularity data from National Records of Scotland and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Neale by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,283
1937
Peak year
1937
28 that year
First recorded
1916
Last recorded
2012
All-time count
915
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,217
1965
Peak year
1965
5 that year
First recorded
1965
Last recorded
1965
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Neale

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

RoyaleHaleKendaleMikaleCordaleNataleValeNealyYaleNeamiahJamaleKaleKhaleCaleAdewaleLadaleRondaleGaleMakaleMckaleRandaleZaleNealMykale

Sibling names for Neale

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

Explore around Neale

Top names of 1937, Neale's peak yearThe 1930s in fullOther names that peaked in 1937Boys' names starting with N