Nil
given name · Latin script
Meaning, in Indonesian: Nile (a river in Africa)
Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published
/nˈil/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Nil is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Türkiye than in any other country. In Nigeria it is the 19th most common given name.
- DEGermany≈1 in 107K(inferred from the name graph)
- NGNigeria≈1 in 519K
- USUnited States1 in 133Kas Nile
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Nil itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Türkiye (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 125 (measured from records)
- 1 in 4.1K (inferred from the name graph)
≈15,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Spain
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
Nile (a river in Africa)
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 5 languages in the etymology graph.
How Nil is read(measured from records)
Nil is one spelling over 5 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 3 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.
- Indonesian18%
Nile (a river in Africa)
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
- English17%
Nothing; zero.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
- Turkish15%
1. Mavi, lacivert. 2. Mısır’dan geçip Akdeniz’e dökülen nehir.
as a wordTDK Kişi Adları Sözlüğü (official Turkish given-name dictionary)
- Swahili9.7%
No dictionary in our sources glosses Nil in Swahili.
- Hindi8.8%
No dictionary in our sources glosses Nil in Hindi.
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 We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Nil counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TR Türkiye | — | ≈15,000 est. | ≈1 in 5.4K | — | Nil | 37 |
| ES Spain | — | 12,328 | 1 in 4.1K | 12K | Nil | 36 |
| US United States | — | 2,510as Nile | 1 in 133K | 2.2K | Nil | 125 |
| SA Saudi Arabia | — | ≈920 est. | ≈1 in 37K | — | Nil | 11 |
| DE Germany | — | ≈750 est. | ≈1 in 107K | — | Nil | 68 |
| OM Oman | #352 | ≈470 est. | ≈1 in 9.9K | — | Nil | 4 |
| NG Nigeria | #19 | ≈410 est. | ≈1 in 519K | listed | Nil | 17 |
| QA Qatar | #709 | ≈270 est. | ≈1 in 9K | — | Nil | 7 |
| KW Kuwait | — | ≈140 est. | ≈1 in 21K | — | Nil | 8 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos); Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Nil is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In Russian, "noir" et le nom du fleuve Nil. Nilus est aussi le nom d'un roi d'Egypte, et d'un autre Nilus, petit-fils d'Atlas (personnage de la mythologie grecque).
as a nameRussian Names
In Akan, ura-mii, inf. [dura mu] J. the act of lining, finishing the in- side of dc. — J2. the lining of the inside. niirfi, r. s. nunti
as a wordDictionary of the Asante and Fante Language called Tshi (Chwee, Twi)
In Russian, Nil, elder of the Kirillov monastery. 1448-68.
as a wordA Dictionary of Period Russian Names (Wickenden / Goldschmidt 1996)
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.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Nilo Fabrab. 1843ESnot in their usual nameSpanish writer and journalist (1843–1903)
- Nil Glagolevb. 1888RURussian mathematician (1888–1945)
- Nil Burakb. 1948TRTurkish Cypriot actor and singer (born 1948)
- Nil Lushchakb. 1973UAEastern Catholic bishop
- Nil Karaibrahimgilb. 1976TRTurkish singer (born 1976)
- Nil Günalb. 1981TRTurkish actor (born 1981)
- Nil Kropalovb. 1991RUactor
- Nil Molinerb. 1992ESSpanish singer-songwriter
- Nil Cardonerb. 1998ESSpanish actor
- Nil Garridob. 2001football player
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).
How to address them(machine-generated)
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.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 75 sources across 38 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES Spain | INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos) | — | 12K | #480 |
| ES Spain | INE — Nombres más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal) | — | 11K | #240 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 282 | #21,325 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 195 | #21,325 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 13 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2023 | 9 | — |
Reference works 5
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Nil mean, and where does it come from?
- Nile (a river in Africa) Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- In which country does Nil have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 15 thousand people named Nil in Türkiye, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled nil.
- Where is Nil most common?
- Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Nil is densest in Spain — about 1 in 4.1 thousand people — even though Türkiye holds more of our records for it.
- How do you pronounce Nil?
- A machine transcription gives /nˈil/ (IPA) for Indonesian.
- Is Nil a male or female name?
- Nil is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.
- How common is the name Nil?
- In Spain, the national register counted 12,328 people named Nil, about 1 in 4.1 thousand residents.
- How common is Nil compared with other names?
- In Nigeria, Nil is the 19th most common given name of 138,191 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Nil?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/nilThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Nil” — the 19th most common given name in Nigeria. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.