Nellia
A feminine variant of the name Nell, derived from Helen, meaning "bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 16 living Americans carry the first name Nellia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nellia today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nellia births was 1927 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nellia. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nellia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
16
~ 1 in 21,422,146 Americans
Peak year
1927
7 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2013 SSA rank
#14,209
Tracked since 1927
Census
Nellia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 129 people with the first name Nellia, which placed it at #48,862 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
#48,862
National first-name rank
People counted
129
129 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nellia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nellia is White at 47.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Hispanic (17.1%). 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 Nellia 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 Nellia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.3% · 61
- Black or African American17.1% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino17.1% · 22
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.2% · 17
- Two or more races5.4% · 7
Popularity
Nellia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nellia from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 13 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nellia 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 Nellia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nellia
The name Nellia is thought to have originated from the Latin word "nebula," which means "mist" or "cloud." It is believed to have been derived as a feminine form of the name Nello, which was a medieval Italian name. The earliest recorded use of the name Nellia dates back to the late 12th century in parts of northern Italy and southern France.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Nellia can be found in a medieval Italian text from the 13th century, which mentions a woman by the name of Nellia di Firenze, who was a renowned seamstress and textile merchant in Florence. Another notable early reference is from a 14th-century French manuscript that records a Nellia de Bordeaux, who was a respected scholar and translator.
During the Renaissance period, the name Nellia gained some popularity among the Italian nobility. One of the earliest recorded examples is Nellia Sforza (1472-1535), who was a member of the powerful Sforza family and served as the Countess of Santa Fiora. Another prominent figure was Nellia Orsini (1546-1611), a Roman noblewoman and patron of the arts.
In the 17th century, the name Nellia spread to other parts of Europe, particularly in France and England. One notable example is Nellia de Rohan (1628-1700), a French noblewoman and courtier at the court of Louis XIV. In England, there was Nellia Fiennes (1673-1720), a notable travel writer and explorer who undertook extensive journeys across Europe and Asia.
The 19th century saw the emergence of several influential women with the name Nellia, including Nellia Bly (1864-1922), an American journalist and pioneering investigative reporter known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days. Another notable figure was Nellia Trent (1842-1925), a British suffragist and activist who campaigned for women's rights and educational reform.
People
Nellia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nellia 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
Nellia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nellia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 16 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nellia 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 21,422,146 US residents.
Is Nellia a common name?
We classify Nellia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 36.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nellia most popular?
The single biggest year for Nellia was 1927, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nellia is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nellia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 129 people with the name Nellia, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,862 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 Nellia 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 Nellia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nellia leans strongly female. 130 people counted with this name were female (95.6%), compared with 6 male bearers (4.4%). 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 Nellia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nellia is White at 47.3%. The next largest groups are Black (17.1%) and Hispanic (17.1%). 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 Nellia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nellia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.3% (61 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 Nellia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nellia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nellia 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 Nellia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nellia 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 Nellia 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 many people have Nellia as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Nellia, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.