Nils

Spellings & scripts●(measured from records)

Locally spelled Niels in DK Denmark, NL Netherlands.

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.

Meaning & origin●(measured from records)

Attested across 13 languages in the etymology graph.

How Nils is read●(measured from records)

Nils 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.

• German43%

  männl. Vom., schwedische und norwe­ gische Kurzform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Swedish13%

  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

• English12%

  No dictionary in our sources glosses Nils in English.

• French9.5%

  Scandinavian form of Nicholas; 'victory of the people'.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

  Scandinavian form of Nicolas; 'victory of the people'.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• Norwegian5.3%

  No dictionary in our sources glosses Nils in Norwegian.

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 We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Other names spelled this way◐(inferred from the name graph)

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 name8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Peru, United States, Argentina

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Nil'S, Nil-S, Níls

• a separate name2 spellings in the group

  Also written Nīls

• Polish given name4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Sweden

  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●(measured from records)

Nils 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.

• 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.

Notable people with this name●(measured from records)

• 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).

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)

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

Frequently asked questions

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

Scandinavian form of Nicholas; 'victory of the people'. Recorded by Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms.

In which country does Nils have the most bearers?

In Sweden, the national register counted about 141 thousand people named Nils, more than in any other country we hold, 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 do you pronounce Nils?

A machine transcription gives /niːls/ (IPA) for German.

What are other forms of the name Nils?

In the etymology graph, Nicholas, Nick and Klaus are forms of the same name in other languages; it is recorded as a short form of Niklas.

How common is the name Nils?

In Sweden, the national register counted 141,270 people named Nils, about 1 in 72 residents.

How common is Nils compared with other names?

In Sweden, Nils is the 65th most common given name of 45,482 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.