Virgil
Feminine
Virgil is given to boys far more often — 72,009 boys against 1,444 girls since 1880. See Virgil as a boy name
Virgil left instructions that the Aeneid should be burned. He had spent eleven years on it, it was unfinished, he was dying, and he asked for the manuscript to be destroyed; the emperor overruled him and had it published almost unaltered. Western literature has the poem because a head of state ignored a dead man's explicit wish.
How old is the name Virgil?
Virgil first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Virgil alive today was born around 1924, making them about 101 years old. About 400 people named Virgil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Virgil most popular?
Virgil peaked in 1898, reaching #886 nationally. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A Roman family name of unknown meaning to Virgil
The story of Virgil
The Middle Ages did something strange to him. Because a poem of his was read as prophesying the birth of Christ, and because he guides the pilgrim through hell in the most widely read work of the period, he acquired a reputation as something other than a poet: a sage, a prophet, and eventually a magician. Naples in particular had a whole cycle of legends about him building the city's defenses by sorcery, placing a bronze fly to keep flies out, and constructing a magic egg on which a castle stood. People opened his poems at random and read the first line their eye fell on as a prediction, a practice serious enough to have a name and to be condemned by churchmen. All of that grew on a poet who had asked for his best work to be destroyed.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Roman family name has no established meaning. It is one of the older Latin gentile names and the derivations proposed for it, including a connection to a word for a staff or twig, are guesses. What is documented is a spelling change: the name was originally written with an e in the middle and the i is a medieval alteration, so the modern form is a later error that stuck.
How the name formed
- A Roman family name of unknown meaning
- A poet who asked for the Aeneid to be burned
- A medieval reputation as a prophet and a magician
- Virgil in continuous English use since the Renaissance
Related forms: Virgilio · Virgilio · Virgile
Pronouncing Virgil
VUR-jil
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a soft g. The i in the first syllable is the medieval alteration; the Roman spelling had an e there, and scholarly editions still sometimes print it that way.
Nicknames for Virgil
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 192057 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #886reached in 1898
- Change vs 1980
- −16.7%5 in 1985, from 6
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.
Virgil in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Virgilio in Italian — same name
- Virgilio in Spanish — same name
- Virgile in French — same name
Virgils among us
people named Virgil 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
Virgil 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
- It carries the most influential poet in the Western tradition and a genuinely good story.
- It is completely familiar in sound and needs no explaining.
- Gil is available inside it as a short form that stands entirely on its own.
- It is strongly associated with an earlier American generation, though it is returning.
- There is no meaning to give, and the spelling everybody uses is a medieval mistake.
- The spelling is on the register for girls as well, in very small numbers.
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Virgil
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Virgils are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Virgil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Virgil in 2025?
- Virgil is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Virgil with classmates?
- Virgil will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More V names
The most-given names starting with V, all years combined.
Virginia#525 · Victoria#54 · Valerie#127 · Vanessa#377 · Vivian#70 · Veronica#427 · Violet#13 · Vicki
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Virgil? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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