Nelly
A feminine diminutive of the name Eleanor or Helen.
Name Census estimates that about 6,625 living Americans carry the first name Nelly. It is a predominantly female name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Nelly today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nelly births was 2007 (213 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nelly. 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 Nelly with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Nelly is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 70 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
6.6K
~ 1 in 51,737 Americans
Peak year
2007
213 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,358
Tracked since 1882
Census
Nelly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 19,418 people with the first name Nelly, which placed it at #1,630 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
#1,630
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
19,418 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
76.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nelly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nelly is Hispanic at 76.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Nelly 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 Nelly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino76.2% · 14,790
- White13.4% · 2,599
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 949
- Black or African American4.8% · 936
- Two or more races0.5% · 99
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 45
Gender
Gender distribution for Nelly
Out of the 7,689 babies given the name Nelly since 1880, 99.1% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Nelly as a male name
- Ranked #11,878 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (9 births)
Nelly as a female name
- Ranked #1,358 in 2024
- 168 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (208 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nelly appears almost entirely female. Of the 19,416 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Nelly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nelly from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,627 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nelly remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nelly 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 Nelly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nellys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Nelly, while Utah, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 243 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nelly
The name Nelly has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the name Cornelia, which itself comes from the Latin word "cornu" meaning "horn." The name Cornelia was popular among ancient Roman families and was borne by several notable women in Roman history.
In the Middle Ages, the name Cornelia evolved into various diminutive forms such as Nella, Nellie, and Nelly. These forms became particularly popular in England and other parts of Western Europe during the Renaissance period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nelly can be found in the works of English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. In his play "The Merry Wives of Windsor," written around 1602, a character named Nelly is mentioned.
Nelly became a common name for women in England during the 17th and 18th centuries. A notable bearer of the name was Nelly Gwyn (1650-1687), a famous English actress and mistress of King Charles II.
In the 19th century, the name Nelly gained popularity in several European countries, including France and Germany. One of the most famous Nellys of this era was Nelly Sachs (1891-1970), a German-Swedish poet and playwright who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1966.
Another notable Nelly was Nelly Bly (1864-1922), an American journalist and pioneer in her field, known for her record-breaking trip around the world in 72 days, inspired by the novel "Around the World in Eighty Days" by Jules Verne.
In the 20th century, the name Nelly continued to be used, though its popularity waned in some regions. One of the most famous Nellys of this time was Nelly Furtado (born 1978), a Canadian singer and songwriter who achieved global success with her album "Whoa, Nelly!" in 2000.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Nelly
People
Nelly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nelly 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
Nelly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nelly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,625 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nelly 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 51,737 US residents.
Is Nelly a common name?
We classify Nelly as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,689 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nelly most popular?
The single biggest year for Nelly was 2007, when 213 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nelly is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nelly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 19,418 people with the name Nelly, or 6.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,630 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 Nelly 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 Nelly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nelly appears almost entirely female. Of the 19,416 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 Nelly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nelly is Hispanic at 76.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Nelly most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Nelly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.2% (14,790 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 Nelly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nelly a female name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Nelly 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 Nelly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nelly 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 Nelly 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 Americans are named Nelly?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.