How rare is the name Nelda?

10,907 people in the United States have the first name Nelda, about 1 in 27,692. It ranks #2,333 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

NELDA

#2,333

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
10,907
About
1 in 27,692
This common or more
79.4%
Who bears it

Of the 10,907 people named Nelda, 70.3% reported their origin as White, 20.9% as Hispanic or Latino and 4.4% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Nelda peaked in 1938, when 567 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18842025
Peak year
1938
Births that year
567
In 2025*
10 ▼98%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 20,144 babies have been given the name since 1884. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Nelda by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1930s, when it ranked #514. The largest share of babies named Nelda, 43.2%, were born between 1928 and 1945, the Silent Generation's birth years.

1880s#2,08028
1890s#1,86274
1900s#1,191235
1910s#1,0011,130
1920s#7003,170
1930s#5144,936
1940s#6064,870
1950s#9113,211
1960s#1,4421,488
1970s#2,836536
1980s#5,446254
1990s#13,05899
2000s#22,27557
2010s#30,50828
2020s#23,72728
Before 19010.6%
Greatest Generation 1901–2718.3%
Silent Generation 1928–4543.2%
Baby boom 1946–6430.4%
Generation X 1965–805.4%
Millennials 1981–961.5%
Generation Z 1997–120.4%
2013 and later0.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Nelda is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Nelda has been most common in Texas (5×), Oklahoma (3.9×), and Mississippi (3.5×), and least common in New York (0.03×).

16,885 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Exactly as common as Nelda

1 other first name also has 10,907 people.

#2,333 Augustus · 10,907

Either side of Nelda

#2,332 Kaye · 10,908#2,333 Augustus · 10,907#2,335 Tianna · 10,895#2,336 Patience · 10,871

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Nelda, most common first.

#3,996 Nelida · 4,865#27,122 Nelta · 339

Compare