Basil comes from the Greek basileios and means "royal" or "kingly"; Saint Basil the Great, the fourth-century bishop of Caesarea, made it one of the great names of the Eastern Church, and the herb basil shares the same root. The actor Basil Rathbone, Hollywood's Sherlock Holmes, is a well-known bearer. In the United States Basil ranked number 1743 in 2000, its best year in the data, and stands at number 2022 in 2025 with 74 births.