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Nilson

#7,532 in 2025Boys' name

Variant of Nelson

Nilson has been given to 356 babies in the U.S. since 1982. In 2025 it ranked #7,532 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2007, with 17 recorded.

Babies named Nilson, 2025

1 in 301,000

Nilson over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nilson: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Nelson

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nilson means

Nilson is a variant of Nelson.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Nilson → Nelson. The family’s meaning is “son of Neil”, recorded in the naming reference for Nelson.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nelson.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 356 boys were recorded with the name Nilson between 1982 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 17 in 2007; its best national rank was #4,474 in 1987.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #11,578 in 2020 to #7,532 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #7,394 in 2015 to #7,532 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 Nilson?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 301,000
11 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 155,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#7,532
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
208,901 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nilson 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 208,901 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nilson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nilsons were born

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

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
32.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
72.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
356
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 32.6% of all recorded uses (116).

Is Nilson 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
−1,155
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+4,046
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−138
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
1.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
64.7%
Peak was 2007 (17)
Years since peak
18
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
37.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,474
1987

Spellings of Nilson

Nilson is not the most common spelling — Milton is, with 32.3% against Nilson's 0.10%.

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 Nilson is used

Across 1910–2025, Nilson 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. Nilson has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nilson around the world

Where Nilson 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.

  • France
    1989–2024
    #3,944
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1995–1995
    #533
    in 1995

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Nilson by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#7,532
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 4,046
Best rank ever
#4,474
1987
Peak year
2007
17 that year
First recorded
1982
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
356
Count in 2025
11

Names similar to Nilson

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

NilanNilayHassonRansonMassonJahsonDaxsonWinsonPaxsonRaysonReasonJeisonNiloTaisonHersonKensonHensonAlisonAcesonJaesonLaysonAdisonYeisonJeyson

Sibling names for Nilson

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 Nilson

Top names of 2007, Nilson's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1987Boys' names starting with N