Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Nial?
Births per year, rank history and how many Nials are alive today.
Nial (male) is a rare spelling of the boys' name Nyall in England and Wales, ranked 5137th in 2025 and given to 3 babies. This spelling of the name peaked in 2000, when 16 babies were given the name, the 953rd most popular that year. It has declined since 2000; the 2025 figure is roughly 19% of its peak.
Across all spellings of the name, the Nyall you are most likely to meet is around 27 years old. Half of all Nyalls born in England and Wales are between 18 and 32, and there are at least 440 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's less than a 1% chance that anyone will be called Nyall - on average, only one in every 689 such rooms contains a Nyall.
How many babies are named Nial each year?
Includes all spellings: Nial, Nyall. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Nial spelling rank?
Where does the Nyall spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Nial most popular?
The most popular form of the name, Nyall, peaked in 1998, when 25 babies in England and Wales were given the name. The Nial spelling itself peaked in 2000, with 16 babies.
How many people are called Nial?
At least 440 people named Nial in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Nial?
Most living Nials are between 18 and 32; the most common age is about 27.
Is Nial becoming more or less popular?
Declining: recent figures are a fraction of the 1998 peak.