Nellie
Nellie is ranked 521st among girls in 2024 (591 births). Its best rank was 14th, in 1881.
- Rank in 2024
- #521up 94 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 5910.04% of girls
- Peak year
- 19184,048 births
- Best rank
- #14in 1881
- Since 1880
- 152,122people given the name
The story in the numbers
152,122 girls have been named Nellie in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1918, with 4,048 births — 0.35% of all girls recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 591 births in 2024, against 4,048 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1919, and the 1910s alone account for 20%. It has spent 105 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 46 of them in the top 100.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Nellie | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 13,761 | |
| 1890s | 17,285 | |
| 1900s | 16,339 | |
| 1910s | 30,879 | |
| 1920s | 29,689 | |
| 1930s | 17,703 | |
| 1940s | 10,207 | |
| 1950s | 5,361 | |
| 1960s | 2,409 | |
| 1970s | 1,479 | |
| 1980s | 1,112 | |
| 1990s | 838 | |
| 2000s | 971 | |
| 2010s | 1,859 | |
| 2020s | 2,230 |
In 1918, its biggest year
Nellie was the 65th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1918 were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1918.
Names that rose and fell with Nellie
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Fanniepeak 1918
- Linniepeak 1921
- Addiepeak 1920
- Lydapeak 1916
- Berthapeak 1918
- Idapeak 1918
- Nettiepeak 1918
- Fannypeak 1916
Other spellings in the data
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.