Given name & surname
Anil
“hindu god of the wind”
Anil is a masculine given name from Hindi, ultimately from Sanskrit.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Anil goes back to Sanskrit अनिल, meaning “hindu god of the wind.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Sanskrit.
How it developed
The name draws on Sanskrit anila, meaning “air, wind”.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1959. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Anil through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,160
- 1,160 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1989
- 46 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 46 in 1989. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 7,485 as a first name in 2020; 525 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Anil’s family of names
Anil has a feminine form in Anila. In English usage, Anil has a related form in ANEEL. In English usage, Anil was borrowed from the Turkish form Anıl.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Anil has relatives in 4 languages. Lines run from its Sanskrit roots to each of them.
3 related names in 4 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Anil
- Anil KapoorIndian actorborn 1959
- Anil AmbaniIndian businessman (1959-present)
- Anil Kumbleformer Indian cricketerborn 1970
- Anil KakodkarIndian scientistborn 1943
- Anil Menonphysician and NASA astronautborn 1976
- Anil Joseph Thomas CoutoIndian archbishopborn 1954
- Anil GurungNepalese footballerborn 1988
- Anil BiswasIndian composer (1914–2003)
- Anil GangulyIndian film director1933–2016
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Anil, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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