Basil
Basil is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 76 births. Its best rank was 322nd, in 1897.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 760.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1924281 births
- Best rank
- #322in 1897
- Since 1880
- 13,438people given the name
The story in the numbers
13,095 boys have been named Basil in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1924, with 281 births.
It is rising: its share of births is at least one and a half times what it was ten years ago.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1939, and the 1920s alone account for 19%. It has spent 92 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 343 girls have also been given it, 2.6% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Basil | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 124 | |
| 1890s | 244 | |
| 1900s | 334 | |
| 1910s | 1,720 | |
| 1920s | 2,450 | |
| 1930s | 1,705 | |
| 1940s | 1,293 | |
| 1950s | 1,090 | |
| 1960s | 873 | |
| 1970s | 577 | |
| 1980s | 572 | |
| 1990s | 660 | |
| 2000s | 536 | |
| 2010s | 547 | |
| 2020s | 370 |
In 1924, its biggest year
Basil was the 354th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1924 were Robert, John, William, James and Charles. See all of 1924.
Names that rose and fell with Basil
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Erwinpeak 1918
- Herschelpeak 1921
- Virgilpeak 1921
- Ottispeak 1920
- Lesterpeak 1918
- Francispeak 1918
- Hubertpeak 1924
- Edmundpeak 1923
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.