Nell

What Nell means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Nell yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1917, with 766 babies; 128 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Nell?

US: Rising: up from #2846 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #334 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1886, when 175 girls got the name (#144 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 12,557 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,533 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,988 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in CO (0.3 per 1,000 girls), MA (0.29 per 1,000 girls), IL (0.25 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Nell is #1622 in the US and #408 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Nell were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the UK pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Noelle1,507 US · 52 E&W
• Noel157 US
• Nelle33 US · 18 E&W
• Nel6 US · 39 E&W
• Nil13 US · 5 E&W
• Nael17 US
• Nile8 US · 6 E&W
• Naelle14 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Nellie
• Nelly

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Nell

Girls

• Rosie#283Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #775 in 2015, #283 in 2025
• Wrenley#158Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #158 vs #1,454 in 2025
• Rosemary#251“dew of the sea”^*
• Margot#102Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #592 in 2015, #102 in 2025
• Rose#114Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1917, with 9,783 babies; 2,386 in 2025
• Ruth#173Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1920, with 26,102 babies; 1,781 in 2025

For a brother

• Theodore#4Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #99 in 2015, #4 in 2025
• Lorenzo#117Editor’s note Up from #216 in 2015 to #117 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 560 US boys in the 2025 records
• Rory#199“red-haired king”^*
• Leon#138“lion”^*
• Calvin#132“bald”^*
• Beau#60Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #203 in 2015, #60 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Nell’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.