Nils
A Swedish masculine name deriving from an Old Norse form of Nicholas.
Name Census estimates that about 2,186 living Americans carry the first name Nils. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nils today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nils births was 1970 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nils. 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 Nils with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 156,795 Americans
Peak year
1970
48 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,979
Tracked since 1888
Census
Nils in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,740 people with the first name Nils, which placed it at #6,000 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
#6,000
National first-name rank
People counted
2.7K
2,740 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nils
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nils is White at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Nils 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 Nils at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.5% · 2,451
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 153
- Two or more races2.9% · 79
- Black or African American1.0% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 9
Popularity
Nils: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nils from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 351 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nils 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 Nils during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nils' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Nils, while Michigan, Illinois, Washington recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nils
The given name Nils has its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic peoples who inhabited Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe during the Viking Age (8th to 11th centuries). It is derived from the Old Norse word "nīll," which means "cloud" or "dark."
The earliest recorded use of the name Nils dates back to the 12th century, when it appeared in Icelandic sagas and other literary works from the region. It was a common name among the Norse people and was often given to boys born during the winter months or on overcast days.
In the Middle Ages, the name Nils became popular in Scandinavia, particularly in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. It was associated with strength, resilience, and a connection to nature, reflecting the harsh climate and rugged landscapes of the region.
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures with the name Nils was Nils Dacke, a Swedish rebel leader who led an uprising against King Gustav Vasa in the 16th century (1543-1544). His rebellion, known as the Dacke War, aimed to resist the centralization of power and the imposition of taxes by the king.
Another prominent individual bearing the name Nils was Nils Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld (1832-1901), a Finnish-Swedish explorer and scientist. He is best known for leading the Vega Expedition, which was the first successful voyage through the Northeast Passage, a long-sought maritime route along the northern coast of Siberia.
In the realm of literature, Nils Holgersson is the name of the main character in the famous Swedish novel "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils" by Selma Lagerlöf (1858-1940). Published in 1906-1907, the book follows the adventures of a young boy who is transformed into a tiny being and travels across Sweden on the back of a goose.
Another notable figure with the name Nils was Nils Bohlin (1920-2002), a Swedish inventor and engineer. He is credited with creating the three-point seatbelt, a groundbreaking invention that has saved countless lives in automobiles since its introduction in the late 1950s.
In the field of science, Nils Gabriel Sefström (1787-1845) was a Swedish chemist and mineralogist who discovered and named several chemical elements, including vanadium and thorium.
While the name Nils has its roots in Old Norse and Scandinavian cultures, it has also been adopted and used in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with strong cultural or historical ties to the Nordic regions.
People
Nils + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nils 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
Nils: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nils?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,186 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nils 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 156,795 US residents.
Is Nils a common name?
We classify Nils as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,061 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nils most popular?
The single biggest year for Nils was 1970, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nils is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nils in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,740 people with the name Nils, or 0.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,000 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 Nils 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 Nils?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nils appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,741 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Nils?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nils is White at 89.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.6%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Nils most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nils in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.5% (2,451 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 Nils in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nils a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nils 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 Nils still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nils 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 Nils 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 many people have Nils as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.