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Niels

#6,057 in 2025Boys' name

Victory + people, through Νικόλαος

Niels has been given to 1,462 babies in the U.S. since 1893. In 2025 it ranked #6,057 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1957, with 31 recorded.

Babies named Niels, 2025

1 in 221,000

Niels over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Niels: meaning, origin, and history

Victory + people, through Νικόλαος

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Niels means

Niels belongs to the name family reached through Niels → Νικόλαος. Its meaning is “victory + people”.

Origin, language, and formation

Niels is used in Danish, Dutch, Faroese and German.

Niels comes through Latin Nicolaus and Ancient Greek Νικόλαος.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nicolaus, Nicholas and Νικόλαος.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Dutch, Niels is pronounced /nils/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,462 boys were recorded with the name Niels between 1893 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 31 in 1957; its best national rank was #1,140 in 1893.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #6,909 in 2020 to #6,057 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,213 in 2015 to #6,057 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Niels?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 221,000
15 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 114,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,057
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
153,194 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Niels 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 153,194 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Niels. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nielss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Niels was born before 1970 — so the typical Niels is around 55 today.

Median birth year
1970
About 55 years old
Biggest decade
1950s
12.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
23.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,085
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1950s — 12.3% of all recorded uses (180).

Is Niels 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
+319
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+852
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−844
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.83×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
48.4%
Peak was 1957 (31)
Years since peak
68
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
41.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,140
1893

Spellings of Niels

Niels is not the most common spelling — Noel is, with 54.3% against Niels's 1.5%.

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 Niels is used

Across 1910–2025, Niels was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 358,177 across all states with data. It was least common in Utah (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2New York1 in —
  3. 3Utah1 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. Niels has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Niels around the world

Where Niels 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
    1998–2016
    #4,023
    in 2016
  • France
    1967–2025
    #785
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #448
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2003–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1949–2012
    #771
    in 2012

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

Niels by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,057
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 852
Best rank ever
#1,140
1893
Peak year
1957
31 that year
First recorded
1893
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,462
Count in 2025
15

Names similar to Niels

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

NielNiekoNievesNelsNieemJewelsNiegelJuelsCharelsNiemNiecoNiemanDanielsNielsenEngelsMichaels

Sibling names for Niels

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 Niels

Top names of 1957, Niels's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1893Boys' names starting with NDanish Boy NamesDutch Boy NamesScientist Names