Names/N

Nelma

girls’ nameFadedCompare

Nelma is absent from the 2024 data, which means fewer than five births. It has never entered the top 1,000.

Rank in 2024
fewer than 5 births
Births in 2024
0not in the data
Peak year
192650 births
Best rank
never in the top 1,000
Since 1907
1,229people given the name
Babies named Nelma, by year of birthgirls
01325385018801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

1,229 girls have been named Nelma in the United States since 1907, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1926, with 50 births.

The name has all but left use: none recorded in 2024, against 50 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1930, and the 1920s alone account for 34%.

By decade

Decadegirls named Nelma
1900s10
1910s184
1920s415
1930s336
1940s195
1950s82
1960s7

In 1926, its biggest year

Nelma was outside the top 1,000 that year. The top five girls’ names of 1926 were Mary, Dorothy, Betty, Helen and Margaret. See all of 1926.

Names that rose and fell with Nelma

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

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.