Neil
/niːl/proper noun
Neil is spelled N-E-I-L: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a proper noun, Neil means “A male given name from Irish” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in Neil?
| Letters | 4: N-E-I-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,496th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is Neil?
Neil appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce Neil?
- /niːl/
Neil has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-kneel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with Neil
Sounds like: Neal, Niel, kneel (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of Neil
- Neal
- Neale
- Neill
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does Neil mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
proper noun
- 1
A male given name from Irish.
- 2
A surname from Irish derived from the given name.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does Neil come from?
Anglicized form of Goidelic/Irish Niall. Doublet of Niall.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).