Nils

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Niels in DK Denmark, NL Netherlands, BE Belgium and 4 more, Нильс in RU Russia, TR Türkiye and Нільс in UA Ukraine.

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◐

Nils is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• French given name61K records spelled Nils8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Peru, Argentina, United States

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Nil'S, Nil-S, Níls

• a separate given name3.3K records spelled Nils2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Sweden, United States, Norway, Switzerland

  Also written Nīls

• Polish given name1.8K records spelled Nils4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, United States, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Nil'S

51 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●

Nils 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.

• In French, Scandinavian form of Nicolas; 'victory of the people'.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In Swedish, Nils är en nordisk form av → Nikolaus (jfr → Niklas). Nils kom efter det förra sekelskiftet att tillhöra de vanligaste mansnamnen i Sverige. Det är nu ett av de tio vanligaste förnamnen. Det senaste årtiondet har det även varit bland de populäraste givna tilltalsnamnen. I den rikssvenska almanackan 8 oktober och i den finlandssvenska 6 december.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, männl. Vom., schwedische und norwe­ gische Kurzform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Swedish form of NICHOLAS . Variant: S. Swedish: Nels. Feminine form: Nilsine .

  as a word

• In Catalan, Nyls (a hamlet in the municipality of Pineilla, Pyrénées-Orientales department, Occitania, France, historically part of Northern Catalonia)

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

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) — 116 years between 1888–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Nielsb. 1063DEnot in their usual nameKing of Denmark
• Adolf Erik Nordenskiöldb. 1832SEnot in their usual nameFinland Swedish baron, geologist, mineralogist and Arctic explorer (1832–1901)
• Nils Gustaf Dalénb. 1869SESwedish Nobel Laureate and industrialist (1869–1937)
• Nils Liedholmb. 1922SESwedish footballer and manager (1922-2007)
• Lennart Johanssonb. 1929SEnot in their usual nameindustrialist, Swedish football administrator, president of UEFA (1990 - 2007)
• Nils-Aslak Valkeapääb. 1943FINorthern Sámi writer, artist and musician (1943–2001)
• Nils Gaupb. 1955NOSaami director from Norway
• Nils Tavernierb. 1965FRFrench actor and film director
• Ola Toivonenb. 1986SEnot in their usual nameSwedish footballer (born 1986)
• Booboo Stewartb. 1994USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor

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 · 685 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Nils?

We estimate roughly 227 thousand people bear Nils (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Nils have the most bearers?

We estimate about 141 thousand people bear Nils in Sweden, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled nils.

Where is Nils most common?

Nils is densest in Sweden, where the national register counts about 1 in 72 people carrying it.

How common is Nils compared with other names?

In Sweden, Nils is the 53rd most common given name of 36,824 given names recorded there.

Is Nils a male or female name?

Nils 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 Nils mean?

Recorded meaning: Scandinavian form of Nicholas; 'victory of the people'.