Neill
Masculine · “champion”
The doubled l is the Scottish surname and the single one the Irish name. Neil with one l is the given name as Ireland has it; Neill and O'Neill with two are how the family name was written once it had crossed to Scotland and into English records, and this spelling is borrowing back from that side.
How old is the name Neill?
Neill first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Neill alive today was born around 1956, making them about 69 years old. About 1,200 people named Neill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Neill most popular?
Neill peaked in 1940, reaching #1183 nationally. See the whole 1940 chart.
Where it comes from
From Niall to Neill
The story of Neill
The dynasty that carried it ran Ireland for the better part of six hundred years. The Uí Néill were not a single kingdom but a group of related ruling families in the north and the midlands, and between them they supplied most of the men recognized as high king from the fifth century to the twelfth — an office that was more a claim to precedence than a government, but a claim worth making. Their descendants were still the dominant power in Ulster when the English finally broke them at the start of the seventeenth century, and the earls' departure afterwards is one of the fixed points of Irish history.
Meaningscholars disagree
champion, or cloud
Two derivations are offered for the Irish name and neither has won. One takes it from a word for a champion and one from a word for a cloud, which is an unusually wide gap between competing readings.
How the name formed
- Niall
- Neil
- Neill
Related forms: Niall
Pronouncing Neill
NEEL
One syllable. The doubled l changes nothing audible; both spellings are identical aloud.
Nicknames for Neill
Limited
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 195036 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1183reached in 1940
- Change vs 2018
- 0.0%7 in 2021, from 7
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.
Neill in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Niall in Irish — same name
Neills among us
people named Neill are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Neill sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable, unambiguous, and never needs spelling out twice.
- It has a genuinely long and well-documented Irish history.
- The spelling and the sound agree completely.
- Neil is the commoner spelling and this one gets corrected.
- The meaning is contested between two very different readings.
- There is no obvious short form, so the full name does all the work.
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What they receive
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Neill
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Neills are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Neill are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Neill in 2025?
- Neill is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Neill with classmates?
- Neill will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nicholas#112 · Nathan#63 · Noah#2 · Nathaniel#140 · Norman#1196 · Nolan#65 · Neil#850 · Nicolas#177
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Neill? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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