Nils

Where Nils comes from

Nils hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1869
    Nils Gustaf Dalén born
    Swedish Nobel Laureate and industrialist
  2. 1888
    Debut at its peak, #815
    #815 among boys with 7 babies — the first year it was published, and still its best.
  3. 1889
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births.
  4. 1922
    Nils Liedholm born
    Swedish footballer and manager
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Nils Gustaf Dalén · Swedish Nobel Laureate and industrialist, 1869–1937
  • Nils Liedholm · Swedish footballer and manager, 1922–2007
  • Nils Petersen · German association football player, born 1988
  • Nils Edén · Swedish 20th century prime minister, 1871–1945
  • Nils van der Poel · Swedish speed skater, born 1996

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.