Nils
A short form of Nicholas that settled into Scandinavia and northern Germany, keeping the old meaning: victory of the people. In Poland it stays rare and strictly male, carried by fewer than 200 men.
Nils Pronunciation
Nils is pronounced NYEELS (/ɲils/).
What Nils means
Where Nils comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Nils is a Germanic name, at home in Scandinavia and northern Germany. It reached those languages as the short form of Nicholas, and it kept the older meaning: victory of the people. Swedes, Danes, and Norwegians shortened the longer form until only Nils remained.
The meaning came from far away. "Victory of the people" belongs to the Greek Nikolaos, and the sense traveled north with the name of Saint Nicholas. By the time it settled into Germanic mouths as Nils, the boy who carried it rarely knew the Greek behind it.
Selma Lagerlöf gave the name to Nils Holgersson, the small boy in her 1906 book who shrinks and flies across Sweden on the back of a goose. Generations of Swedish schoolchildren met their country through that story.
In a Polish class register today, Nils sits among the Janeks and Kubas as something clearly northern. The form stays plain. One syllable, four letters. Underneath sits the meaning: victory of the people.
How many people are named Nils
1 in 107267 men in Poland is named Nils. 199 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2233 among male names.
Nils's popularity over time
Fewer than 2 boys were given the name in 2025. It has been stable for a decade.
Nils as a middle name
Nils is a first name for 199 men in Poland and a middle name for another 48, an 81/19 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1101st, between Jurgen (48) and Nuno (48).
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#1099 Hyun48
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#1100 Jurgen48
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#1101 Nils48
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#1102 Nuno48
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#1103 Rosario48