Nils is a Scandinavian given name, a chiefly Norwegian, Danish, Swedish and Latvian variant of

Niels Niels is a male given name, equivalent to Nicholas, which is common in Denmark, Belgium, Norway (formerly) and the Netherlands. The Norwegian and Swedish variant is Nils. The name is a developed short form of Nicholas or Greek Nikolaos, after Saint ...

, cognate to

Nicholas Nicholas is a male name, the Anglophone version of an ancient Greek name in use since antiquity, and cognate with the modern Greek , . It originally derived from a combination of two Ancient Greek, Greek words meaning 'victory' and 'people'. In ...

People and animals with the given name

* Nils Elias Anckers (1858–1921), Swedish naval officer * Nils Beckman (1902–1972), Swedish jurist and civil servant * Nils Bergström (born 1985), Swedish ice hockey player * Nils Björk (1898–1989), Swedish Army lieutenant general *

Nils Dacke Nils Dacke (died 1543) was a Swedish yeoman who was the leader of a mid-16th century peasant revolt in the historic province of Småland in southern Sweden. The resulting Dacke War () was fought against King of Sweden, King Gustav I of Sweden ...

(died 1543), Swedish rebel * Nils-Joel Englund (1907–1995), Swedish cross-country skier *

Nils Ericson ''Friherre'' Nils Ericson (born Nils Ericsson; 31 January 1802 – 8 September 1870) was a Swedish mechanical engineer who built canals and railways in Sweden. His younger brother John Ericsson, who emigrated first to England and then the U ...

(1802–1870), Swedish inventor and engineer *

Nils Frahm Nils Frahm (born 20 September 1982) is a German musician, composer, and record producer based in Berlin. He is known for combining classical and electronic music and for an unconventional approach to the piano in which he mixes a grand piano, upr ...

(born 1982), German pianist and producer * Nils Frykdahl, American musician * Nils Grandelius, Swedish chess grandmaster * Nils Gründer (born 1997), German politician * Nils Hald (1897–1963), Norwegian actor * Nils Haßfurther (born 1999), German basketball player * Nils-Göran Holmqvist (born 1943), Swedish politician * Nils Kreicbergs (born 1996), Latvian handball player *

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish association football, football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (the Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li ...

(1922–2007), Swedish footballer and coach *

Nils Lofgren Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a memb ...

(born 1951), American musician * Nils Lorens Sjöberg (1754–1822), Swedish officer and poet * Nils Mittmann (born 1979), German basketball player *

Nils Mohl Nils Mohl (born July 31, 1971, in Hamburg) is a German writer. Life and work Mohl grew up the oldest of two siblings on the outskirts of Hamburg. He studied New German Literary Studies, Linguistics, Ethnology and Cultural Management in Kiel, T ...

(born 1971), German writer *

Nils Muižnieks Nils Muižnieks (born 31 January 1964 in the United States) is a Latvian-American human rights activist and political scientist. He had served as the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights between 2012 and 2018, succeeding Thomas ...

(born 1964), Latvian-American political scientist *

Nils Ohlin Nils Ohlin (1895–1958) was a Swedish stage and film actor.Gustafsson p.113 Primarily acting in the theatre, he also appeared in a variety of films from the silent era to the 1950s as a character actor. Selected filmography * '' De landsflyktig ...

(1895–1958), Swedish actor *

Nils Olav Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands () is a king penguin who resides in Edinburgh Zoo, Scotland. He is the mascot and colonel-in-chief of the Norwegian King's Guard. The name 'Nils Olav' and associated ranks have be ...

, a penguin in Edinburgh Zoo who is the mascot of the Norwegian Royal Guard *

Nils Personne Lieutenant General Nils Birger Valdemar Personne (29 June 1918 – 26 August 2013) was a Swedish Air Force officer. Personne's senior commands includes Vice Chief of the Air Staff (1961–1966), commander of the 4th Air Group (1966), chief of s ...

(1918–2013), Swedish Air Force lieutenant general *

Nils Petersen Nils Petersen (; born 6 December 1988) is a German former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. He appeared in the 2016 Summer Olympics and remains the first and only German footbal ...

(born 1988), German footballer *

Nils Sējējs Nils Sējējs (born 15 March 2001) is a Latvian professional ice hockey winger who is currently playing with HC La Chaux-de-Fonds of the Swiss League (SL) as a prospect to Genève-Servette HC of the National League (NL). Sējējs played hi ...

(born 2001), Latvian ice hockey player *

Nils-Erik Söderqvist Nils-Erik Söderqvist (born 1948) is a Swedish politician and former member of the Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1 ...

(born 1948), Swedish politician *

Nils Trygg Nils Trygg (1914–1951) was one of the recognized masters of twentieth century woodcarving, most famous for the Scandinavian flat-plane style of woodcarving. Nils Trygg was born in Småland, Sweden. He was one of three sons of Carl Johan Tryg ...

(1914–1951), Swedish woodcarver *

Nils Lahr Nils Lahr (born August 1973) is an American entrepreneur, inventor and computer scientist known for his work in the streaming media and artificial intelligence industries. He founded Synergy Sports Technology and several other companies. He has ...

(born 1973), American entrepreneur * Nils Ušakovs (born 1976), Latvian journalist and politician, Mayor of Riga * Nils Vilnis (born 1983), Latvian photographer and entrepreneur

Fictional characters with the given name

Nils (Fire Emblem) ''Fire Emblem: The Blazing Blade'', also known simply as ''Fire Emblem'', is a 2003 tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the seventh installment in the ''Fire Emb ...

, the fictional bard in the Fire Emblem: Rekka no Ken video game *Nils Holgersson, the main character of ''

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

'', a novel by Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf *Nils, a character in Double Fines video game ''

Psychonauts ''Psychonauts'' is a 2005 platformer, platform game developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Majesco Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, Xbox (console), Xbox and PlayStation 2. Set in a Retrofuturism, retro-futuristic version of t ...

'' *Nils Helstrom, a character in the 1933 film ''

The Son of Kong ''The Son of Kong'' (also known and publicized simply as ''Son of Kong'') is a 1933 American Pre-Code Hollywood, Pre-Code Adventure film, adventure Monster movie, monster film produced by RKO Pictures. Directed by Ernest Schoedsack and featuring ...

'' *Nils Hellstrom, the central character of the 1971 film '' The Hellstrom Chronicle'' *Nils Hellstrom, the central character of the 1973 book '' Hellstrom's Hive'' by Frank Herbert, inspired by the 1971 film *Nils Krogstad, a central character of the 1879 play ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish language, Danish and ; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act Play (theatre), play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 De ...

'' by Henrik Ibsen *Nils Jesper, Joan Ferguson's henchman on Wentworth *NILS Statue, a structure in the '' Splatoon 2: Octo Expansion'' DLC made by Nintendo. {{given name, nocat Latvian masculine given names Scandinavian masculine given names Norwegian masculine given names Masculine given names Swedish masculine given names