Neill
A Celtic masculine name derived from the Gaelic words for "champion" or "cloud".
Name Census estimates that about 1,194 living Americans carry the first name Neill. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Neill today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Neill births was 1950 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Neill. 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 Neill with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 287,064 Americans
Peak year
1950
36 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,463
Tracked since 1912
Census
Neill in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,347 people with the first name Neill, which placed it at #10,044 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
#10,044
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,347 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Neill
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neill is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8%). 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 Neill 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 Neill at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.4% · 1,137
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 51
- Two or more races3.3% · 44
- Black or African American3.2% · 43
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 7
Popularity
Neill: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Neill from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 282 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Neill 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 Neill during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Neills live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. North Carolina, New York, California recorded the most babies named Neill, while Illinois, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Neill
The name Neill has its origins in the Gaelic language and culture. It is derived from the ancient Irish word "niall," which means "champion" or "cloud." This name was particularly popular in Ireland and Scotland during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Neill can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. This text mentions several figures named Neill, including Neill Caille, who was the King of Ui Maine in the 7th century.
In the 9th century, the Annals of the Four Masters, another important Irish historical text, records the exploits of Neill Calnene, the High King of Ireland from 833 to 856 AD. This Neill was known for his military campaigns against the Viking invaders.
The name Neill also appears in Scottish history, with one notable figure being Neill Campbell, the 10th Earl of Argyll, who lived from 1433 to 1513. He was a prominent Scottish nobleman and played a significant role in the politics of his time.
In literature, the name Neill is featured in several works, including James Joyce's novel "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," where one of the characters is named Neill Moran.
Some other notable individuals with the name Neill throughout history include:
1. Neill Armstrong (1920-2012), an American astronaut and the first person to walk on the moon.
2. Neill Blomkamp (born 1979), a South African-Canadian film director known for movies like "District 9" and "Elysium."
3. Neill Buchanan (born 1960), an American actor and comedian known for his role in the TV series "The Nanny."
4. Neill Dennis (born 1943), a Canadian actor and voice artist, best known for his work in animated series like "X-Men" and "Dragonball Z."
5. Neill Marriott (1918-2001), a British actor and playwright, known for his work in theater and television.
Overall, the name Neill has a rich history that spans various cultures and time periods, with its roots firmly planted in the ancient Gaelic traditions of Ireland and Scotland.
People
Neill + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Neill 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
Neill: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Neill?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,194 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Neill 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 287,064 US residents.
Is Neill a common name?
We classify Neill as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,834 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Neill most popular?
The single biggest year for Neill was 1950, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Neill is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Neill in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,347 people with the name Neill, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,044 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 Neill 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 Neill?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Neill leans strongly male. 1,319 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 28 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Neill?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Neill is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.8%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.8%). 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 Neill most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Neill in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (1,137 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 Neill in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Neill a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Neill 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 Neill still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Neill 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 Neill 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 Neill as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.