Niel
#13,329 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Niel has been given to 1,384 babies in the U.S. since 1913. In 2025 it ranked #13,329 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1958, with 26 recorded.
Babies named Niel, 2025
1 in 663,000
Niel over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Niel?
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
- #13,329
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 459,581 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Niel sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Niel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Niels were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Niel was born before 1959 — so the typical Niel is around 66 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1950s
- 15.4% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 11.1%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 894
- People you could plausibly meet
1950s — 15.4% of all recorded uses (213).
Is Niel 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
- 19.2%
- Peak was 1958 (26)
- Years since peak
- 67
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 36.0% average annual change
Spellings of Niel
Niel is not the most common spelling — Daniel is, with 56.9% against Niel's 0.04%.
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 Niel is used
Across 1910–2025, Niel was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 877,216 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
- 2New York1 in —
- 3Wisconsin1 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. Niel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Niel around the world
Where Niel 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 & Wales2015–2015#4,747in 2015
- Scotland1975–1981#306in 1981
- Ireland1969–1979#324in 1979
- France1991–2025#6,525in 2025
- South Australia1947–1988#476in 1988
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.
Niel by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
Names similar to Niel
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Niel
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.