MEANING & CONTEXT
What does Neel mean?
Nīla is the Sanskrit adjective for a dark blue or green colour and also a noun for sapphire. Neel additionally recalls Nila, a vanara chief in the Ramayana associated with the building of the bridge to Lanka.
Meaning themes
Spellings in Indian scripts
Devanagari
नील
Conventional spelling
Gurmukhi
ਨੀਲ
Conventional spelling
HISTORICAL VOTER RECORDS
Neel in Indian usage
14,840 historical electoral-roll records, chiefly adults, rather than current baby-name rankings.
Used for both boys and girls in these historical records; the recorded sex does not determine anyone’s identity.
- Recorded as female: 6,579 records (44.3%).
- Recorded as male: 8,261 records (55.7%).
By birth decade
| Birth decade | Records |
|---|---|
| 1940s | 416 |
| 1950s | 796 |
| 1960s | 1,672 |
| 1970s | 3,152 |
| 1980s | 4,789 |
| 1990s | 3,798 |
| Other decades | 217 |
By state or territory
| State / territory | Records |
|---|---|
| Uttar Pradesh | 5,587 |
| Jharkhand | 1,582 |
| Bihar | 1,476 |
| Punjab | 1,068 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 1,041 |
| Maharashtra | 962 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 679 |
| Assam | 607 |
| Haryana | 431 |
| Rajasthan | 357 |
| Delhi | 277 |
| Tripura | 237 |
| Uttarakhand | 192 |
| Other states | 344 |
How to read these numbers
Small counts and a second count where needed are withheld for privacy; an omitted value is not zero. Coverage, dates and suppression.
Recorded abroad
Official births registered in 2025, for the exact spelling shown.
| Jurisdiction | Spelling / recorded sex | Births | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| England & Wales | Neel / M | 18 | 1,466 |
| England & Wales | Neel / F | 5 | 4,201 |
ONS and National Records of Scotland; Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3. Counts follow each office’s publication rules.
Explore related lists
Sources
- Historical Indian voter-record totals, v3 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Historical usage; CC0 1.0; birth years 1910–2001
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Neel; Table_6, C1516 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Neel; Table_6, C1516
- England & Wales 2025 birth statistics: Exact spelling Neel; Table_6, C4626 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Exact spelling Neel; Table_6, C4626
- Monier-Williams, nīla, p. 566,1 ↗ (opens in a new tab)
Adapted dictionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0.