Basil
2025 SSA
About Basil
Although Greek in origin--in the fourth century, a bishop by that name established the principles of the Greek Orthodox Church--Basil for years took on the aura of aquiline-nosed upper-class Britishness of Sherlock Holmes portrayer Basil Rathbone, then spiced with the fragrant aroma of the herb that entered with the Pesto generation.
Now, it's time to take a fresh look at Basil.
Basil was on the U.S. popularity list quite regularly up till 1970, reaching a high of Number 328 in 1904. Its history includes several rulers of the Byzantine Empire and Eastern Orthodox saints, including one whose grandmother, father, older sister and two younger brothers were all saints as well.
Basil has also been seen as a figure of fun, as in the manic Basil Fawlty in the British TV comedy classic "Fawlty Towers," in the Disney movie "Basil of Baker Street," and as Basil Brush and Basil Wombat in other kids' entertainment.
The Russian version, Vassily, is another possibility.
Pronounced BAZ-ul.
As of October 2026, Basil ranked #2022 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #322 in 1897, Nameberry popularity #660.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #2,712 | 44 | 22.9 |
| 2015 | #2,429 | 52 | 27.1 |
| 2016 | #2,234 | 60 | 31.6 |
| 2017 | #2,244 | 59 | 31.9 |
| 2018 | #2,066 | 69 | 38 |
| 2019 | #2,047 | 71 | 39.6 |
| 2020 | #2,324 | 58 | 33.6 |
| 2021 | #2,001 | 74 | 42.3 |
| 2022 | #1,828 | 88 | 50.4 |
| 2023 | #2,030 | 74 | 43.3 |
| 2024 | #2,009 | 76 | 44.1 |
| 2025 | #2,022 | 74 | 43.3 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Basil.
- Valentine
- Cosmo
- Casper
- Caspar
- Robin
- Poe
- Peregrine
- Hawthorn
- Florian
- Salvadore
- Lupin
- Rufus
- Moreau
- Pascal
- Wolfgang
- Clement
- Linus
- Magnus
- Gordie
- Florence
Basil on lists
Famous Basils
- Basil Wolverton
American cartoonist, illustrator, comic book writer,artist
- Basil Arthur
New Zealand politician
- Basil Hetzel
Australian medical researcher
- Basil al
Assad, son and heir,apparent of the late Syrian President Hafez al,Assad
- Basil Brooke
1st Viscount Brookeborough, politician and third Prime Minister of Northern Ireland
- Basil Bunting
British modernist poet
- Basil Dearden
British film director
- Basil W. Duke
Confederate American Civil War general and historian
- Air Chief Marshal Basil Embry
British Royal Air Force officer
- Basil Foley
son of actor Dave Foley
- Basil Buzz Hargrove
Canadian former labour union leader
- B. H. Liddell Hart
English soldier, military historian and leading inter,war theorist
- Basil Hiley
British quantum physicist
- Basil Hood
British librettist and lyricist
- Basil Mott
British civil engineer
- Basil O'Connor
American lawyer and chairman and president of the American Red Cross
- Basil Charles Godfrey Place
British Royal Navy rear,admiral and recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Basil Radford
British actor
- Basil Rathbone
British actor famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes
- Basil Spence
Scottish architect
- Basil Zaharoff
Turkish,born arms trader and financier, and chairman of the Vickers munitions company during World War I
- Deveraux Octavian Basil Tyler
son of musician Mick Jagger
Basil in pop culture
- Basil
protagonist of Wilkie Collins' 1852 novel "Basil"
- Basil
of the "Basil of Baker Street" novels and the movie "The Great Mouse Detective"
- Basil
a character in the television series "Fraggle Rock"
- Basil Fawlty
the main character in "Fawlty Towers," played by John Cleese
- Basil Brush
a glove puppet fox popular on children's television in the UK
- Basil the Bear (Sesame Park)
main character of the Canadian children's show "Sesame Park"
- Basil
a character in the anime and manga series "Reborn!"
- Basil
a character on the Playhouse Disney TV series "Johnny and the Sprites"
- Basil Wombat
a character on "SeeMore's Playhouse"
- Basil
a character in the breeding and farming game "Harvest Moon"
- Basil Hallward
the artist that paints the haunting portrait of Dorian Gray in Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray"
- Basil the Bat Lord
an enemy racer in Lego Racers (video game)
- Basil Stag Hare
member of the Fur and Foot Fighting Patrol in Brian Jacques' "Redwall"
- Basil Hawkins
a character in a popular manga "One Piece"
- Basil Exposition
a character in the Austin Powers films
- Basil
Alex Delarge's snake from the film "A Clockwork Orange"
- Basil Brightberry
the gentlemouse sommelier in the children's "Brambly Hedge" series
- Basil Ransom
a Mississippi lawyer in Henry James's 1886 novel "The Bostonians"
- Basil
a pirate in the film "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
- Basil
character in "The Internment Chronicles" by Lauren DeStefano