Sunil
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Meaning
very dark blue, sapphire-blue (Sanskrit); a grandparent-generation classic shared with India; carried by singer Sunil Perera of the Gypsies
The story
Sunil comes from Sanskrit elements: su, good or very, and nila, dark blue. The color is the deep blue associated with sapphire and with divine imagery in South Asian traditions, not simply a modern color word. The name is used across Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Nepali, and other Indian-language communities, and it also has a long life in Sri Lanka. That wide geography means pronunciation and cultural associations can shift without changing the spelling. On this site's American curve Sunil first registers in the 2020s, far too late to date the name itself. Actors Sunil Dutt and Suniel Shetty and many other public bearers made it familiar across South Asian screens long before US data noticed it. Sunil is concise, cross-regional, and anchored in a specific Sanskrit image: a good or intensely dark blue.
How popular is Sunil around the world?
In the United States, Sunil is not on the Social Security record for 2020 to 2025: names under 5 in a year are withheld at source. In Spain, 198 residents are named Sunil, ranked 4,704th among men, with a mean age of 39.7 years.
Sunil is on the official records of Spain.
United States
under 5 a year
In the United States, Sunil is not on the Social Security record for 2020 to 2025: names under 5 in a year are withheld at source.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Sunil has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Spain
1 in 230,000
In Spain, 198 residents are named Sunil, ranked 4,704th among men, with a mean age of 39.7 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Canada
last on record 2001
Sunil is not on the 2024 record for Canada, where names under 5 in a year are excluded at source.
The count never rose above 9 in a year, too few to chart.
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
last on record 2010
Sunil is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Scotland
last on record 1982
Sunil is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
last on record 2004
Sunil is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Ireland, New Zealand and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Sunil
Most people given the name Sunil in the United States were born between 1970 and 1999. The Sunil you meet today is most often in his 30s or 40s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Sunil deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Sunil 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 Sunil fits with your family’s names and surname.
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