Basil

Locally spelled Василий in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, Василь in UA Ukraine, Васил in BG Bulgaria and Vasili in MD Moldova.

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

Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.

Basil is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• English62%

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

  as a name·Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

  A plant (Ocimum basilicum).

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

• Arabic7.4%

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

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

  brave, bold, valiant

  as a name·A Dictionary of Muslim Names

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Basil, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Cedar
• Alder
• Cypress
• Ambrose
• Ash
• Cecil
• Anise
• Cosmo
• Aspen
• Aloysius
• Forrest
• Florian

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

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 name21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, France, Philippines, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, French, Portuguese

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

• Hindi given name13 spellings in the group

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

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Bangla

  Also written Basila, Bassil, Basilo, বাসিল, Baasil

• a separate name7 spellings in the group

  Also written Bāṣīl, Bāsil, Băsil, Bāsīl, Baṣīl

• Indonesian given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, Indonesia, India, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Bas-Il

59 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.

Basil is also recorded in 2 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

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.

• 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).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

How do you pronounce Basil?

In English /ˈbeɪ.zəl/ (Wiktionary).

What does the name Basil mean, and where does it come from?

from the male personal name Basil, ultimately from Greek Basileios, literally 'royal' Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

Is Basil a male or female name?

Basil is used for both men and women, depending on the country. National registers that list names by sex disagree: United States (Census Bureau, 2020): listed as male; France (INSEE, 2024): listed as male; Finland (DVV): listed under both sexes; Norway (SSB): listed as male. We don't publish a percentage split.

What are other forms of the name Basil?

In the etymology graph, Vasyl, Basilio and Vasile are forms of the same name in other languages.

How common is the name Basil?

In the United States, the national register counted 7,831 people named Basil in 2020, about 1 in 42 thousand residents.

How common is Basil compared with other names?

In Ukraine, Basil is the 22nd most common given name of 85,149 given names recorded there.

In which country does Basil have the most bearers?

Mondonomo estimates about 763 thousand people named Василь in Ukraine, more than in any other country we hold.