Nesly
A given name of unknown origin with a possible meaning relating to happiness or joy.
Name Census estimates that about 68 living Americans carry the first name Nesly. It is a predominantly female name (92.8% of registrations). The average person named Nesly today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nesly births was 2007 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nesly. 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 Nesly. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
68
~ 1 in 5,040,505 Americans
Peak year
2007
8 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
1994 SSA rank
#9,820
Tracked since 1994
Census
Nesly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 406 people with the first name Nesly, which placed it at #23,937 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
#23,937
National first-name rank
People counted
406
406 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
56.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nesly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nesly is Black at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.2%). 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 Nesly 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 Nesly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American56.4% · 229
- Hispanic or Latino39.9% · 162
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 9
- White1.5% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Nesly
Nesly leans heavily female at 92.8% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nesly as a male name
- Ranked #9,820 in 1994
- 5 male births in 1994
- Peak: 1994 (5 births)
Nesly as a female name
- Ranked #14,657 in 2023
- 6 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2007 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nesly on both sides of the split. Of the 408 people counted with this name, 234 were male (57.4%) and 174 were female (42.6%).
Popularity
Nesly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nesly from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 32 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nesly remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nesly 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 Nesly 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 Nesly
The given name Nesly has its origins in the ancient Slavic languages, traced back to the 9th century AD. It is believed to be derived from the Proto-Slavic root "nes," which means "to carry" or "to bear." This root is also found in other Slavic names like Nestor and Nestoran.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nesly can be found in the Novgorod Birch Bark Letters, a collection of ancient correspondence written on birch bark in the medieval city of Novgorod, located in modern-day Russia. These letters date back to the 11th and 12th centuries, suggesting that the name was already in use during that period.
In the 13th century, a Bosnian nobleman named Nesly Radović was mentioned in historical records as a member of the Bosnian nobility during the reign of the Kotromanić dynasty. His exact birth and death years are unknown, but his name serves as an early example of the name's usage in the region.
During the Renaissance period, a Italian artist named Nesly Fiorentino (1492-1567) gained recognition for his frescoes and paintings in various churches and palaces across Italy. His most notable works include the frescoes in the Basilica of San Domenico in Siena and the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence.
In the 18th century, a French philosopher and mathematician named Nesly Laplace (1749-1827) made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics and probability theory. He is best known for his work on the stability of the solar system and the development of the Laplace transform, which bears his name.
Another notable figure with the name Nesly was a Polish composer and pianist, Nesly Chopin (1810-1849), who is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. His works, including his famous Nocturnes and Études, are celebrated for their technical brilliance and emotional depth.
While the name Nesly may have originated in the Slavic languages, its use has spread across various cultures and regions throughout history, with individuals bearing this name making notable contributions in fields such as art, philosophy, and music.
People
Nesly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nesly 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
Nesly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nesly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 68 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nesly 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 5,040,505 US residents.
Is Nesly a common name?
We classify Nesly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 69 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nesly most popular?
The single biggest year for Nesly was 2007, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nesly is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nesly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 406 people with the name Nesly, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,937 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 Nesly 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 Nesly?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nesly on both sides of the split. Of the 408 people counted with this name, 234 were male (57.4%) and 174 were female (42.6%). 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 Nesly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nesly is Black at 56.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.2%). 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 Nesly most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nesly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.4% (229 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 Nesly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nesly a female name?
Yes, 92.8% of people registered as Nesly 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 Nesly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nesly 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 Nesly 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 Nesly?
See how many Americans are named Nesly on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.