Niguel
A masculine given name of Spanish origin meaning "little black one".
Name Census estimates that about 150 living Americans carry the first name Niguel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Niguel today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Niguel births was 1998 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Niguel. 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.
People living today
150
~ 1 in 2,285,029 Americans
Peak year
1998
12 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2016 SSA rank
#13,625
Tracked since 1988
Census
Niguel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 216 people with the first name Niguel, which placed it at #36,618 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
#36,618
National first-name rank
People counted
216
216 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Niguel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Niguel is Black at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.2%) and White (7.4%). 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 Niguel 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 Niguel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.4% · 124
- Hispanic or Latino28.2% · 61
- White7.4% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 7
- Two or more races3.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Niguel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Niguel from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 78 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Niguel 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 Niguel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Niguel
The given name Niguel has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, one of the earliest known civilizations in Mesopotamia, dating back to around 3500 BC. The name is derived from the Sumerian words "ni" meaning "life" and "guel" meaning "to protect" or "to guard." This suggests that the name Niguel may have originally been associated with meanings such as "life-protector" or "guardian of life."
The name Niguel can be traced back to various historical records and texts from the Sumerian and Akkadian civilizations of ancient Mesopotamia. It is believed to have been a relatively common name among the ruling classes and nobility of these ancient societies. Some of the earliest known references to the name Niguel can be found in cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets from the city-state of Uruk, one of the oldest cities in the world, dating back to around 3100 BC.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Niguel was a Sumerian high priest and scribe who lived in the city of Nippur during the 3rd millennium BC. He is known for his contributions to the development of the Sumerian writing system and his works on astronomy and mathematics.
Another notable figure named Niguel was a Babylonian military commander who served under King Hammurabi during the 18th century BC. He is mentioned in several historical accounts for his role in the expansion of the Babylonian Empire and his victories in various military campaigns.
During the medieval period, the name Niguel gained popularity among certain Muslim communities in the Middle East and North Africa. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Niguel al-Baghdadi, a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century AD. He made significant contributions to the fields of logic, metaphysics, and ethics, and his works were widely studied and debated in the Islamic world.
In the 12th century, a prominent figure named Niguel ibn al-Muqri' gained recognition as a renowned poet and literary critic in the Andalusian region of Spain. His works were celebrated for their eloquence and mastery of the Arabic language.
Throughout history, the name Niguel has also been associated with various religious and spiritual figures. For instance, in the 16th century, there was a Sufi mystic and saint named Niguel al-Din who was revered for his teachings and spiritual guidance in the Indian subcontinent.
While the name Niguel has its roots in ancient Mesopotamian civilizations, it has been adopted and adapted by various cultures and communities over the centuries, each adding their own unique interpretations and associations to its meaning and significance.
People
Niguel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Niguel 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
Niguel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Niguel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 150 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Niguel 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 2,285,029 US residents.
Is Niguel a common name?
We classify Niguel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 153 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Niguel most popular?
The single biggest year for Niguel was 1998, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Niguel is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Niguel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 216 people with the name Niguel, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,618 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 Niguel 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 Niguel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Niguel leans strongly male. 205 people counted with this name were male (98.1%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.9%). 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 Niguel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Niguel is Black at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.2%) and White (7.4%). 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 Niguel most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Niguel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (124 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 Niguel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Niguel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Niguel 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 Niguel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Niguel 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 Niguel 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 the name Niguel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.