Virgil
Masculine
Virgil is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 72,009 boys against 1,444 girls since 1880. See Virgil as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Virgil alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 23,500 people named Virgil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Virgil most popular?
Virgil peaked in 1907, reaching #93 nationally. Today it ranks #1409, 1,316 places below that high. See the whole 1907 chart.
Virgil appears on these lists:
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 19211,830 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #93reached in 1907
- Change vs 2022
- +59.3%129 in 2025, from 81
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Ohio.
Virgils among us
people named Virgil are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,241 born in 2025 was named Virgil
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
Virgil is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Virgil is headed
Virgil should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Virgil beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Virgil in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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
Masculine · #1409 in the U.S.
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 23,500 people named Virgil are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Virgil in 2025?
- Virgil ranks #1409 among US boy names in 2025, with 129 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Virgil?
- About 1 in every 13,241 US boys born in 2025 was named Virgil — 129 in all.
- Will my child share the name Virgil with classmates?
- Virgil will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Virgil
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dale#1409 · Fox#1409 · Malikai#1409 · Kolt#1409 · Linden#1409 · Huxton#1409 · Iverson#1409 · Cayde#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Virgil? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Virgil and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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