Nigel

Nigel ( NY-jəl) is an English masculine given name.

The English Nigel is found in records dating from the Middle Ages; however, it was not used much before being revived by 19th-century antiquarians. For instance, Walter Scott published The Fortunes of Nigel in 1822, and Arthur Conan Doyle published Sir Nigel in 1905–06. As a name given for boys in England and Wales, it peaked in popularity from the 1950s to the 1970s (see below).

Nigel has never been as common in other countries as it is in Britain, but was among the 1,000 most common names for boys born in the United States from 1971 to 2010. Numbers peaked in 1994 when 447 were recorded (it was the 478th most common boys' name that year). The peak popularity at 0.02% of boys' names in 1994 compares to a peak popularity in England and Wales of about 1.2% in 1963, 60 times higher.

Etymology

The name is derived from the church Latin Nigellus. This word was at first assumed to be derived from the classical Latin nigellus (meaning dark). However, this is now considered an example of an incorrect etymology passed down and created by French-speaking clerics, who knew Latin as well and translated the Norman first name Neel to Latin written documents, as was conventional in Western Europe at the time. The Latin word nigellus gave birth to Old French neel (modern nielle), meaning “niello, black enamel”; and this explains the confusion with Nigel, because the clerics believed it was the same etymology as the first name Neel, spelled the same way.

However Nigel, via medieval Latin Nigellus and subsequently Norman Neel (modern surname Néel), and Norse Njáll, is ultimately derived from the Gaelic Irish given name Niall.

England and Wales

The following table shows the number of boys given the first name Nigel in specific years in England and Wales. Numbers peaked in about 1963. In 1964 it was the 23rd most popular boys' name. By 2016 the number of boys named Nigel had dropped below 3, the minimum number reported by the ONS.

Medieval figures

• Nigel de Saint-Sauveur (Néel de Saint-Sauveur), Norman baron at Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte in Cotentin
• Nigel D'Oyly (Néel d'Ouilly), Anglo-Norman lord
• Nigel d'Aubigny (Néel d'Aubigny), Norman nobleman
• Nigel (bishop of Ely) (Néel d'Ely), Anglo-Norman bishop
• Nigel de Longchamps, 12th-century English poet

Notable people named Nigel

Fictional characters

Dog

• Nigel, a Golden Retriever dog that belonged to Monty Don, a British television gardening presenter.

References