first name
NELLIE
of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census
Of the 26,255 people named Nellie, 59.6% reported their origin as White, 17% as Black and 15.1% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.8%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.
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Nellie peaked in 1918, when 4,057 babies got the name.
At least 153,284 babies have been given the name since 1880. 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.
Nellie by decade
Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1880s, when it ranked #35. The largest share of babies named Nellie, 46.2%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.
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 Nellie is most common
Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Nellie has been most common in West Virginia (3.7×), Alabama (3.2×), and Kentucky (2.6×), and least common in Rhode Island (0.27×).
100,699 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.
Either side of Nellie
Spelled almost the same
6 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Nellie, most common first.
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🔎 NELLIE 🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦🟦⬜⬜⬜ 1 in 11,504 Americans Rarer than 74% of us Peaked in 1918 with 4,057 babies Beat that 👇 https://howrareismy.name/first/nellie/