Meaning not yet researched.
Nigel: US boys given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 71 in 2025. Its best rank was #478 in 1994.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #478 in 1994; #2,088 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Nigel in 2025 was a boy.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#2,088 for US boys in 2025. Its best year was 1994, at #478.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Nigel: US boys given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 71 boys in 2025. Peak: #478 in 1994 · most boys in one year: 448 (1994).
In 2025, 71 US boys were named Nigel, making it the 2,088th most common boys’ name of the year, up 117 places from #2,205 in 2024. That is 5 more than the 66 boys named Nigel in 2024. Its best rank for boys was #478, reached in 1994. That year also had the most boys given the name: 448. For comparison, it was #1,115 in 2015 and #2,716 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Nigel in 87 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1915 with 5 babies. In all, 12,371 US babies have been given the name, 0.7% of them girls and 99% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1990s, with 3,810 babies named Nigel.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 984 US boys were named Nigel; the busiest of those years was 2017, with 150. In 2025 that was about 1 in 24,057 of the boys in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Nigel ranked highest in South Carolina in 2025, at #836 for boys there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Neel (3,392 babies since 1880) and Niall (2,094 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Nygel, Niguel and Nigil are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in Dutch and English. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Nygel (520), Niguel (153), Nigil (91), Niegel (29), Nygil (24), Nigal (16), Nigell (6), Nigiel (5).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Nigel in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US boys. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five boys got the name, so 47 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Carolina | 5 | #836 | — |
| Florida | 7 | #1,584 | #1,249 |
| California | 7 | #2,143 | #2,469 |
| Texas | 5 | #2,844 | #1,139 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | — | 71 | #2,088 |
| 2024 | — | — | 66 | #2,205 |
| 2023 | — | — | 73 | #2,057 |
| 2022 | — | — | 71 | #2,111 |
| 2021 | — | — | 94 | #1,735 |
| 2020 | — | — | 80 | #1,865 |
| 2019 | — | — | 108 | #1,559 |
| 2018 | — | — | 125 | #1,405 |
| 2017 | — | — | 150 | #1,227 |
| 2016 | — | — | 146 | #1,260 |
| 2015 | — | — | 173 | #1,115 |
| 2014 | — | — | 155 | #1,195 |
| 2013 | — | — | 170 | #1,094 |
| 2012 | — | — | 178 | #1,068 |
| 2011 | — | — | 194 | #1,003 |
| 2010 | — | — | 216 | #935 |
| 2009 | — | — | 249 | #859 |
| 2008 | — | — | 271 | #811 |
| 2007 | — | — | 303 | #742 |
| 2006 | — | — | 309 | #709 |
| 2005 | — | — | 276 | #735 |
| 2004 | — | — | 237 | #766 |
| 2003 | — | — | 266 | #708 |
| 2002 | — | — | 280 | #668 |
| 2001 | — | — | 305 | #623 |
| 2000 | — | — | 349 | #577 |
| 1999 | — | — | 361 | #557 |
| 1998 | — | — | 373 | #537 |
| 1997 | — | — | 372 | #537 |
| 1996 | — | — | 383 | #523 |
| 1995 | — | — | 405 | #507 |
| 1994 | 7 | #11,403 | 448 | #478 |
| 1993 | — | — | 432 | #488 |
| 1992 | 7 | #11,332 | 384 | #519 |
| 1991 | 5 | #14,699 | 318 | #567 |
| 1990 | — | — | 315 | #571 |
| 1989 | 5 | #13,850 | 286 | #579 |
| 1988 | — | — | 240 | #613 |
| 1987 | — | — | 208 | #636 |
| 1986 | — | — | 208 | #622 |
| 1985 | 6 | #10,239 | 194 | #632 |
| 1984 | — | — | 154 | #705 |
| 1983 | — | — | 161 | #673 |
| 1982 | — | — | 145 | #721 |
| 1981 | — | — | 191 | #618 |
| 1980 | — | — | 165 | #676 |
| 1979 | — | — | 145 | #720 |
| 1978 | 7 | #8,264 | 117 | #784 |
| 1977 | 11 | #5,772 | 146 | #705 |
| 1976 | — | — | 123 | #752 |
| 1975 | 7 | #7,714 | 132 | #722 |
| 1974 | 8 | #6,671 | 90 | #848 |
| 1973 | 5 | #9,337 | 95 | #815 |
| 1972 | — | — | 89 | #854 |
| 1971 | — | — | 95 | #834 |
| 1970 | — | — | 56 | #1,099 |
| 1969 | — | — | 55 | #1,047 |
| 1968 | — | — | 44 | #1,141 |
| 1967 | — | — | 44 | #1,123 |
| 1966 | — | — | 23 | #1,641 |
| 1965 | — | — | 27 | #1,504 |
| 1964 | — | — | 28 | #1,502 |
| 1963 | — | — | 22 | #1,728 |
| 1962 | — | — | 26 | #1,577 |
| 1961 | — | — | 26 | #1,591 |
| 1960 | — | — | 22 | #1,755 |
| 1959 | — | — | 22 | #1,748 |
| 1958 | — | — | 24 | #1,630 |
| 1957 | — | — | 29 | #1,474 |
| 1956 | — | — | 15 | #2,148 |
| 1955 | — | — | 26 | #1,528 |
| 1954 | — | — | 20 | #1,745 |
| 1953 | — | — | 10 | #2,662 |
| 1952 | — | — | 11 | #2,466 |
| 1951 | — | — | 5 | #4,095 |
| 1950 | — | — | 9 | #2,716 |
| 1949 | — | — | 5 | #4,067 |
| 1948 | — | — | 9 | #2,734 |
| 1947 | — | — | 7 | #3,275 |
| 1946 | — | — | 6 | #3,420 |
| 1941 | — | — | 7 | #3,056 |
| 1936 | — | — | 5 | #3,915 |
| 1934 | — | — | 7 | #3,197 |
| 1929 | — | — | 6 | #3,834 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,813 | — | — |
| 1918 | 6 | #4,671 | — | — |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,778 | — | — |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).