Meaning of the nameNilson

Nilson is a male name that the Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil gives as a variant of Nelson, an English surname meaning 'son of Neil'.

Meaning

“variant of Nelson, an English surname meaning 'son of Neil'”

Source: Behind the Name: Nelson

People (2022): 90,353
Rank in Brazil: #347
Median age: 51 years
2010 Census: 101,796; people

Nilson in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Nilson, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1970s (25,336 people).

254 women 90,099 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Nilson is most common

States with the highest share of people named Nilson in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Mato Grosso do Sul 0.073%
Paraná 0.069%
Rondônia 0.062%
Mato Grosso 0.062%
Minas Gerais 0.061%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	19,522	0.044%
Minas Gerais	12,569	0.061%
Paraná	7,904	0.069%
Rio de Janeiro	7,208	0.045%
Bahia	6,463	0.046%
Rio Grande do Sul	4,746	0.044%
Santa Catarina	4,570	0.060%
Goiás	3,739	0.053%
Pará	3,612	0.045%
Espírito Santo	2,298	0.060%
Mato Grosso	2,259	0.062%
Maranhão	2,168	0.032%
Mato Grosso do Sul	2,021	0.073%
Pernambuco	1,832	0.020%
Amazonas	1,647	0.042%
Rondônia	980	0.062%
Distrito Federal	975	0.035%
Ceará	967	0.011%
Rio Grande do Norte	812	0.025%
Piauí	811	0.025%
Alagoas	690	0.022%
Paraíba	605	0.015%
Sergipe	588	0.027%
Tocantins	563	0.037%
Amapá	344	0.047%
Acre	248	0.030%
Roraima	212	0.033%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Nilson

The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil records Nilson as a variant of Nelson, and Behind the Name also lists Nilson as a Portuguese form of Nelson. Nelson is an English surname meaning 'son of Neil', according to Behind the Name; Wiktionary derives it from Middle English Neil or Nell plus the suffix -son. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 90,353 people named Nilson, most of them born in the 1960s and 1970s.

Sources

Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Nilson · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · origin
Behind the Name: Nelson · behindthename.com · meaning
Wiktionary: Nelson · en.wiktionary.org · origin

Questions about the name Nilson

What does the name Nilson mean?

Nilson means “variant of Nelson, an English surname meaning 'son of Neil'”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Nilson in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 90,353 people with the first name Nilson, which ranks it number 347 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1970s.

Is Nilson a boy's or a girl's name?

Nilson is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 254 women and 90,099 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Nilson?

Nilson is a name of English origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Nilson most common?

Proportionally, in Mato Grosso do Sul: 0.073% of the state's population is named Nilson (2,021 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of English origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Nilson with a source. See the methodology.