Nelle
A French feminine name meaning "bright one" or "shining light".
Name Census estimates that about 631 living Americans carry the first name Nelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nelle today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nelle births was 1917 (169 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nelle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Nelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
631
~ 1 in 543,192 Americans
Peak year
1917
169 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,090
Tracked since 1880
Census
Nelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 795 people with the first name Nelle, which placed it at #14,731 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,731
National first-name rank
People counted
795
795 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nelle is White at 83.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Nelle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Nelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.0% · 660
- Black or African American6.5% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 25
- Two or more races2.0% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Nelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nelle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 1,201 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nelle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Nelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Nelle, while Mississippi, Massachusetts, Iowa recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nelle
The name Nelle has its origins in the Italian language, derived from the Latin name Nigella, which means "little black one." The name first appeared in medieval Italy around the 12th century.
In Italy, the name Nelle was often used as a diminutive form of Nigella, and it eventually became a standalone name. The name was particularly popular in regions such as Tuscany and Umbria, where it was commonly used by both noble and common families.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nelle can be found in the writings of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), who mentioned a character named Nella in his famous work, the Divine Comedy.
In the 14th century, Nelle Signorini (1330-1401) was a prominent Italian painter and sculptor from Siena, known for her religious artwork and frescoes adorning churches in her hometown.
During the Renaissance period, Nelle di Berto (1445-1520) was a renowned Florentine artist and architect who contributed to the design of several notable buildings, including the Palazzo Pitti in Florence.
In the 16th century, Nelle Malatesta (1515-1589) was a noblewoman from the powerful Malatesta family in Rimini, known for her patronage of the arts and her support of the Italian Renaissance.
Another notable figure was Nelle Visconti (1564-1635), a member of the influential Visconti family in Milan. She was a devout Catholic and played a significant role in the founding of several religious institutions and convents in the city.
Throughout the centuries, the name Nelle continued to be used in Italy, although it became less common over time. It remained more prevalent in certain regions, particularly in central and northern Italy, where it maintained its historical and cultural significance.
People
Nelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nelle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 631 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nelle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 543,192 US residents.
Is Nelle a common name?
We classify Nelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,761 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Nelle was 1917, when 169 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nelle is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 795 people with the name Nelle, or 0.26 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,731 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Nelle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Nelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 790 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Nelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nelle is White at 83.0%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Nelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.0% (660 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Nelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nelle in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Nelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nelle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Nelle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Nelle?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.