Basil
Meaning
kingly, royal
The story
Basil is Greek royalty in plain clothes. Basileios means kingly, and the herb shares the royal pedigree: basilikon phyton, the royal plant. As a given name its pedigree runs through Basil the Great, the fourth-century bishop of Caesarea whose theology still anchors Eastern Christianity, and through a run of Byzantine emperors. In Britain it settled into tweedy respectability and became the name of Sherlock Holmes as a generation knew him, Basil Rathbone. American parents used it steadily in the early twentieth century, then let it sit for fifty years. US records now show Basil as current in the 2020s as it was in the 1890s, a genuine full-circle revival. Some of the new bearers are girls, because the herb-garden wave that brought back Sage and Juniper gathered Basil up too, which would have startled the emperors.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Basil peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
30 people · the #94,398 first name in Brazil · median age 54
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Basil
People given the name Basil in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 2019. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Basil deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Basil truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Basil fits with your family’s names and surname.
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