How Many People Are Named Nell?
people named Nell are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 58,166 people in the US has this name
Based on 27,710 babies named Nell in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎💎 Very Rare
Peak Year
766 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Medieval diminutive of names beginning with El, such as ELEANOR, ELLEN (1) or HELEN. It may have arisen from the medieval affectionate phrase mine El, which was later reinterpreted as my Nel.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
Same Sound, Other Spellings
These names are pronounced like Nell in English. Counting Nell and these spellings together, about 6,556 people alive in the US have the name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Almost all of the babies given the name Nell (99.9%) were girls.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Nell alive today is about 55 years old, and 58% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 24 and 82 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Nell first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1917, to 766 babies. In 2025, 128 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Nell has never been one of the 100 most popular girls' names. Its best rank was #144, in 1886. In 2025 it ranked #1,628.
| Girls | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,628 |
| Best rank | #144 (1886) |
| Years in the top 100 | None |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #269 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Nell alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Nell were born in Texas than in any other state: about 398 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Nell was given 4 times as often in Alabama, 3.7 times in Tennessee and 3 times in Georgia.
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