Neville
Of French origin, meaning "new town" or "new settlement".
Name Census estimates that about 1,573 living Americans carry the first name Neville. It is a predominantly male name (96.9% of registrations). The average person named Neville today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neville births was 1975 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neville. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Neville with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Neville is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 75 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 217,898 Americans
Peak year
1975
42 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,139
Tracked since 1905
Census
Neville in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,942 people with the first name Neville, which placed it at #4,645 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,645
National first-name rank
People counted
3.9K
3,942 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
61.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neville
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neville is Black at 61.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Neville described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Neville at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American61.0% · 2,403
- White22.5% · 885
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.3% · 326
- Two or more races4.7% · 187
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 119
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 22
Gender
Gender distribution for Neville
Neville leans heavily male at 96.9% of total registrations, but 75 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Neville as a male name
- Ranked #10,563 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1975 (42 births)
Neville as a female name
- Ranked #5,139 in 1947
- 6 female births in 1947
- Peak: 1925 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neville leans strongly male. 3,816 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 117 female bearers (3.0%).
Popularity
Neville: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neville from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 273 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neville by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Neville during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nevilles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, Florida, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Neville, while Ohio, Mississippi, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Neville
The name Neville is of Norman French origin, deriving from the Old French words "neuf" meaning "new" and "ville" meaning "town." It was a locational surname initially given to someone who hailed from a new or newly established town or village. The name likely emerged in the 11th century during the Norman conquest of England when many French names and vocabulary were introduced to the region.
As a given name, Neville has been in use since at least the 12th century. One of the earliest recorded instances is Neville of Raby, a prominent English baron who lived from around 1163 to 1244. He was a powerful landowner and nobleman in northern England during the reigns of King John and Henry III.
Another noteworthy historical figure with the name Neville was Neville Cardigan (1543-1631), an English courtier and diplomat who served under Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. He was known for his role in the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which aimed to assassinate King James I and blow up the Houses of Parliament.
In the realm of literature, Neville Shute (1899-1960) was a renowned English novelist and aeronautical engineer. He wrote several popular novels, including "A Town Like Alice" and "On the Beach," which explored themes of adventure, romance, and the aftermath of nuclear war.
Neville Chamberlain (1869-1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1937 to 1940. He is best known for his policy of appeasement towards Nazi Germany in the lead-up to World War II, which ultimately failed to prevent the conflict.
In more recent times, Neville Longbottom is a prominent character in the Harry Potter book and film series by J.K. Rowling. He is a fellow student and close friend of the protagonist, Harry Potter, and plays a crucial role in the battle against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.
People
Neville + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neville as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Neville: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neville?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,573 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neville going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 217,898 US residents.
Is Neville a common name?
We classify Neville as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,405 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neville most popular?
The single biggest year for Neville was 1975, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neville is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neville in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,942 people with the name Neville, or 1.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,645 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Neville in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Neville?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neville leans strongly male. 3,816 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 117 female bearers (3.0%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Neville?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neville is Black at 61.0%. The next largest groups are White (22.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Neville most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Neville in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.0% (2,403 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Neville in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neville a male name?
Yes, 96.9% of people registered as Neville in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Neville still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neville in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Neville can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Neville?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Neville on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.