Nigel comes from the medieval Latin Nigellus, long thought to mean "black" after the Latin niger, but actually a Latinized form of Neil, which means "champion" or "cloud". It was revived in England in the 19th century and still sounds distinctly British to American ears. In the United States Nigel ranked number 577 in 2000, left the top 1000 in the 2010s and stands at number 2088 among boys' names in 2025.