Basil

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Василий in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and 6 more, Vasil in GE Georgia, CZ Czechia, ES Spain, Vasile in RO Romania, DE Germany and Васил in BG Bulgaria, MK North Macedonia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 13 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Basil is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name20K records spelled Basil21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, France, Philippines, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

  Also written Bas-Il, Bāsīl, Bāsil, Básil, Bãsîl

• Hindi given name14K records spelled Basil13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, United Kingdom, South Africa

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Bangla

  Also written Basila, Bassil, বাসিল, Basilo, বযাসিল

• a separate given name5.4K records spelled Basil7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Bāṣīl, Bāsīl, Bâsil, Baṣīl, Băsil

• Indonesian given name2.7K records spelled Basil3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, Malaysia, United States, Indonesia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Bas-Il

57 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Basil is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• From the Greek name Basileios ‘royal’ (a derivative of basileus ‘king’). This name was borne by St Basil the Great (c.330- 379), bishop of Caesarea, a theologian regarded as one of the Fathers of the Eastern Church. It was also the name of several early saints martyred in the East.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• Greek, ‘royal’. The name is used in Ireland to anglicise Brazil.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, A plant (Ocimum basilicum).

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Arabic, Just, (baasil) brave, bold, valiant. See Shuja ¢l.4, brave

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

• In Arabic, brave, bold, valiant

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Basilios Bessarionb. 1403TRnot in their usual nameGreek theologian, cardinal bishop and Latin Patriarch of Constantinople (1403-1472)
• Basil Fool for Christb. 1468RUEastern Orthodox Church Saint
• Basil Rathboneb. 1892GBEnglish actor (1892–1967)
• Basil Sydneyb. 1894GBEnglish actor (1894-1968)
• Basil Henry Liddell Hartb. 1895GBBritish historian and theoretician of war (1895-1970)
• Basil Radfordb. 1897GBBritish actor (1897-1952)
• Basil Hoffmanb. 1938USAmerican actor (1938–2021)
• Basil Poledourisb. 1945USGreek-American composer, conductor, and orchestrator of film and television scores (1945-2006)
• Bassel al-Assadb. 1962SYnot in their usual nameSyrian engineer, soldier, politician, and eldest son of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad
• Bassel Khartabilb. 1981SYnot in their usual namefree culture and democracy activist, Syrian political prisoner

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 525 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Basil?

We estimate roughly 184 thousand people bear Basil (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Basil have the most bearers?

Basil is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled василий.

How common is Basil compared with other names?

In Russia, Basil is the 41st most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Basil a male or female name?

Basil is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Basil mean?

Recorded meaning: from the male personal name Basil, ultimately from Greek Basileios, literally 'royal'