Vergil
Masculine
Vergil is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,968 boys against 56 girls since 1880.
Vergil is the correct spelling and Virgil is the famous one. The poet who wrote the Aeneid was Publius Vergilius Maro, and medieval scribes respelled his family name with an i, partly from a fanciful connection to the Latin for a wand. American families have used both, and this is the older form.
How old is the name Vergil?
Vergil first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Vergil alive today was born around 1929, making them about 96 years old. About 600 people named Vergil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vergil most popular?
Vergil peaked in 1896, reaching #641 nationally. Today it ranks #5045, 4,404 places below that high. See the whole 1896 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Vergilius to Vergil
The story of Vergil
The Aeneid was the central text of Roman literary education and stayed central through the Middle Ages, when Vergil acquired a second reputation as a magician and a prophet; Dante made him a guide through hell and purgatory, which fixed him in European imagination permanently. The name was given in England and America from the eighteenth century, part of the classical naming that also produced Horace, Homer and Ovid. Vergil with an e is the scholar's spelling.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Vergilius is a Roman family name and its meaning is not recoverable, like most Roman family names. The medieval respelling Virgilius invited connections to virga, a wand, and virgo, a maiden, and neither has anything to do with the name.
How the name formed
- Vergilius
- Virgilius
- Vergil
Related forms: Virgil · Virgilio · Virgilio · Virgil
Pronouncing Vergil
VUR-jil
Two syllables, stress in front, the g soft as in gem. Vergil and Virgil are said identically.
Nicknames for Vergil
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 192071 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #641reached in 1896
- Change vs 2023
- +26.7%19 in 2025, from 15
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.
Vergil in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Virgil in English — spelling variant
- Virgilio in Italian — same name
- Virgilio in Spanish — same name
- Virgil in Romanian — same name
Vergils among us
people named Vergil are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 89,899 born in 2025 was named Vergil
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Vergil 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
Vergil beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vergil in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries one of the most-read poets in European history.
- Gil works as a short form and is a complete name elsewhere.
- The e spelling is the historically correct one, which is a small pleasure.
- Virgil is the commoner spelling by a wide margin and will be written instead.
- The name has a strong nineteenth-century American flavor.
- Its meaning is genuinely unrecoverable, so anything given for it is a guess.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Vergil to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Vergil? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Vergil
Masculine · #5045 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vergils are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Vergil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Vergil in 2025?
- Vergil ranks #5045 among US boy names in 2025, with 19 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vergil?
- About 1 in every 89,899 US boys born in 2025 was named Vergil — 19 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vergil with classmates?
- Vergil will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vergil
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Silver#5045 · Daymon#5045 · Thierry#5045 · Mehmet#5045 · Tyrel#5045 · Teague#5045 · Zeyad#5045 · Gardner#5045
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vergil? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vergil and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle