Nellie

What Nellie means

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

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1918, with 4,048 babies; 567 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Nellie?

US: Rising: up from #1239 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #307 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1881, when 1,096 girls got the name (#14 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 2,835 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 553 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,789 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 ME (1.93 per 1,000 girls), ND (1.85 per 1,000 girls), SD (1.64 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Nellie is #533 in the US and #101 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 Nellie were girls.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Noellie21 US
• Nelia14 US · 5 E&W
• Noelie10 US
• Nolie6 US
• Noellia6 US
• Nollie5 US
• Naylie5 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

• Nell
• Nelly

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Nellie

Girls

• Margot#102Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #592 in 2015, #102 in 2025
• Rosie#283Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #775 in 2015, #283 in 2025
• Ruth#173Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1920, with 26,102 babies; 1,781 in 2025
• Rosemary#251“dew of the sea”^*
• Wrenley#158Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #158 vs #1,454 in 2025
• Iris#61“rainbow”^*

For a brother

• Beau#60Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #203 in 2015, #60 in 2025
• Leon#138“lion”^*
• Theodore#4Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #99 in 2015, #4 in 2025
• Theo#82Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #405 in 2015, #82 in 2025
• Nico#174Diminutive of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”^*
• Brooks#64Variant of Brook, meaning “swamp, marsh”^*

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 Nellie’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.