Akil
Masculine · “Intelligent”
Akil is Arabic for intelligent, and it has a second life the Arabic did not supply: it was one of the names American families reached for in the 1970s when they were looking outside the European stock, and its peak in 1977 sits exactly there.
How old is the name Akil?
Akil first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Akil alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 2,100 people named Akil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Akil most popular?
Akil peaked in 1977, reaching #1268 nationally. Today it ranks #5399, 4,131 places below that high. See the whole 1977 chart.
Where it comes from
From ʿāqil to Akil
The story of Akil
ʿĀqil is an ordinary Arabic name and is used across the Arab world and in South Asia. Its American history has a distinct shape: the name appears in the birth records in quantity from the late 1960s, in the same years that African American families were adopting Arabic and Swahili names in numbers, and it peaks in 1977 — the year Roots was broadcast, which is the single most visible moment of that movement. The name has stayed in low steady use since, with bearers from Arab and South Asian immigrant families as well.
Meaning
Intelligent, sensible, of sound judgment
From Arabic ʿaqala, to understand or to be rational, giving the active participle ʿāqil, one who understands. The reading is settled. A separate Sanskrit akhila, meaning whole or complete, gives the Indian name Akhil, which is a different word and is sometimes conflated with this one in English spelling.
How the name formed
- ʿāqil
- Akil
Related forms: عاقل · عاقل · Akil · Akili
Pronouncing Akil
ah-KEEL
Two syllables, stress on the second. The Arabic q is a deep k made far back in the throat and the opening ʿayn is a pharyngeal, neither of which English reproduces; AK-il with front stress is a common American flattening.
Nicknames for Akil
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1970
- Most boys named
- 199482 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1268reached in 1977
- Change vs 2024
- −54.1%17 in 2025, from 37
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Akil in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- عاقل in Arabic — transliteration
- عاقل in Urdu — same name
- Akil in Turkish — spelling variant
- Akili in Swahili — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Georgia.
Akils among us
people named Akil are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 100,475 born in 2025 was named Akil
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Akil
- #5399
- Akil on the 2025 chart
- #890
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Akil went to 17 boys in 2025, but Akhil and Aqil are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 38, which makes it the 890th most-given boys’ name of the year — 4,509 places above the chart.
- Akil17
- Akhil16
- Aqil5
About 1 boy in 44,949 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 100,475 for Akil itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Primo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Akil's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Primo climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Primo's path sketches the road Akil is walking now.
Akil sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Akil beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Akil in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and unusually good — sound judgment.
- Four letters and two syllables travel easily.
- It is recognized across the Arab world and South Asia.
- Akil, Aqil, Akeel and Akhil are four spellings across two unrelated languages.
- The stress is regularly moved forward in English.
- The back half of the name resembles an unpleasant English word.
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What they receive
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Akil
Masculine · #5399 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Akils are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Akil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Akil?
- Akil is the most-used spelling in US records — 17 of the 38 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Akhil and Aqil.
- How popular is the name Akil in 2025?
- Akil ranks #5399 among US boy names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Akil?
- About 1 in every 100,475 US boys born in 2025 was named Akil — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Akil with classmates?
- Akil will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Akil
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Frazier#5399 · Franz#5399 · Demetrio#5399 · Rolan#5399 · Rayvon#5399 · Riddick#5399 · Laramie#5399 · Soloman#5399
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Akil? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Akil and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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