Name Awesome

Neel

#1,581 in 2025Boys' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Neel has been given to 3,392 babies in the U.S. since 1918. In 2025 it ranked #1,581 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2009, with 148 recorded.

Babies named Neel, 2025

1 in 30,700

Neel over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Neel: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Neel means

Neel is a given name.

The naming story behind Neel

Wikidata records Neel as a male given name, unisex given name. The entity identifier is Q19967540, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,392 boys were recorded with the name Neel between 1918 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 148 in 2009; its best national rank was #1,216 in 2009.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,810 in 2020 to #1,581 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,663 in 2015 to #1,581 in 2025.

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.

How common is Neel?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 30,700
108 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 15,800
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,581
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
21,278 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Neel 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 21,278 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Neel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Neels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Neel was born before 2008 — so the typical Neel is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
28.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
70.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
3,353
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 28.4% of all recorded uses (964).

Is Neel 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
+278
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+229
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+82
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.14×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
73.0%
Peak was 2009 (148)
Years since peak
16
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
16.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,216
2009

Spellings of Neel

Neel is not the most common spelling — Joel is, with 20.0% against Neel's 0.24%.

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 Neel is used

Across 2016–2025, Neel was most concentrated in Washington — about 1 in 5,882 boys, against 1 in 17,609 across all states with data. It was least common in Ohio (1 in 100,000).

117 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Washington1 in 5,882
  2. 2New Jersey1 in 6,250
  3. 3California1 in 10,000
  4. 4Massachusetts1 in 14,286
  5. 5Texas1 in 16,667
  6. 6New York1 in 20,000
  7. 7Illinois1 in 25,000
  8. 8Michigan1 in 33,333

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.

Neel around the world

Where Neel 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
    1996–2025
    #1,466
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2008–2021
    #755
    in 2021
  • France
    1982–2025
    #5,157
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,037
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2003–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Neel

People whose public names include Neel, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Neel in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Neel. Linked forms have their own page here.

NelNealNeilNielNigel

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Neel by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,581
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 229
Best rank ever
#1,216
2009
Peak year
2009
148 that year
First recorded
1918
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,392
Count in 2025
108

Names similar to Neel

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

NeevNeekoJameelJaleelSteelNeerNabeelAdeelNeelyJahleelKhaleelKaleelNeemaJibreelAqeelAseelNeerajJezreelAkeelNeeomNeeravIsmaeelMikaeelNeedham

Names with a curve like Neel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Neel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

HusseinAvrohomKeoniRamsesEderBrighamKeelanJacoboKamranNahumAjAdnan

Sibling names for Neel

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 Neel

Top names of 2009, Neel's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2009Boys' names starting with N