Feminine dossier · first seen 1880
Nellie
Resurgent
Gaining cultural share
Peak era
1918
Peak births
4,048
Current vitality
Fragile
Peak generation
Greatest Generation
Quick answers about Nellie
How many people are named Nellie?
An estimated 18,398 living Americans are named Nellie.
How rare is Nellie?
Nellie is moderately uncommon among babies today, with 567 girls receiving the name in 2025, down 86% from its 1918 peak.
How old is the typical Nellie?
The median age of a living American named Nellie is approximately 59 years, with most bearers falling between 16 and 76 years old.
Is Nellie still popular?
Yes — Nellie is currently rising in popularity, with 567 births in 2025. Births this decade are running about 2.7× higher than the previous decade.
Where is Nellie most common?
Nellie has its strongest geographic signal in Utah, where it appears 5.3× more often than the national baseline.
1880Peak 19182025
Peak year
1918
Decline from peak
86%
2025
567
All-time
152,691
Where it lives now
Nellie is most concentrated in Nebraska — about 5.0× the national rate in the 2020s.
States where Nellie is given more often than the national average — its present-day heartland.