Nelsa
A feminine name originating from the Netherlands, popularly interpreted as "confident champion".
Name Census estimates that about 32 living Americans carry the first name Nelsa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nelsa today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nelsa births was 1954 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nelsa. 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 Nelsa. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
32
~ 1 in 10,711,073 Americans
Peak year
1954
9 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
1999 SSA rank
#16,135
Tracked since 1954
Census
Nelsa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 511 people with the first name Nelsa, which placed it at #20,272 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
#20,272
National first-name rank
People counted
511
511 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
77.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nelsa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nelsa is Hispanic at 77.5%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Nelsa 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 Nelsa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino77.5% · 396
- White12.1% · 62
- Black or African American5.1% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 2
Popularity
Nelsa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nelsa from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 17 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nelsa 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 Nelsa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nelsas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nelsa
The name Nelsa has its origins in the ancient Germanic languages, specifically from the Proto-Germanic root *nahts, which means "night." It is believed to have emerged around the 5th century CE, during the Migration Period when various Germanic tribes were on the move across Europe.
In its earliest forms, the name was spelled as Nahtswa or Nahtsuinda, which translates to "night's victory" or "night's power." Over time, as the name spread to different regions, it underwent various phonetic changes and spelling variations, leading to the modern form of Nelsa.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nelsa can be found in the Codex Sangallensis, an 8th-century Latin manuscript from the Abbey of Saint Gall in modern-day Switzerland. In this document, a woman named Nelsa is mentioned as a landowner in the region of Alamannia.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Nelsa. One of the most famous was Nelsa of Verdun (c. 970 - 1035), a French noblewoman and abbess of the Convent of Saint-Maur in Verdun. She was known for her piety and leadership in the religious community of the time.
Another prominent figure was Nelsa von Calenberg (1425 - 1495), a German noblewoman and landowner in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was influential in the political affairs of the region and played a role in the dynastic struggles of the time.
In the literary realm, Nelsa Gårdvik (1890 - 1965) was a Swedish author and poet known for her works exploring themes of nature, love, and the human condition. Her collection of poetry, "Sånger från skogen" (Songs from the Forest), published in 1920, was widely acclaimed.
Moving to the modern era, Nelsa Revilla (1938 - 2018) was a renowned Mexican sculptor and artist. Her works, often inspired by pre-Hispanic cultures and indigenous traditions, have been exhibited in museums and galleries across the world.
Lastly, Nelsa Nespolo (born 1962) is an Italian-born Australian visual artist and sculptor. Her works, which often incorporate found objects and unconventional materials, have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in Australia and internationally.
People
Nelsa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nelsa 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
Nelsa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nelsa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nelsa 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 10,711,073 US residents.
Is Nelsa a common name?
We classify Nelsa as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nelsa most popular?
The single biggest year for Nelsa was 1954, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nelsa is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nelsa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 511 people with the name Nelsa, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,272 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 Nelsa 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 Nelsa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nelsa appears almost entirely female. Of the 508 people counted with this name, 99.0% 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 Nelsa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nelsa is Hispanic at 77.5%. The next largest groups are White (12.1%) and Black (5.1%). 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 Nelsa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Nelsa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.5% (396 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 Nelsa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nelsa a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nelsa 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 Nelsa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nelsa 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 Nelsa 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 are called Nelsa?
You can see how many Americans are named Nelsa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.