Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Nel?
Births per year, rank history and how many Nels are alive today.
Nel (female) is an uncommon spelling of the girls' name Nell in England and Wales, ranked 894th in 2025 with 39 babies given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 2017, when 49 babies were given the name, the 797th most popular that year. Numbers have been stable in recent years.
Across all spellings of the name, the Nell you are most likely to meet is around 4 years old. Half of all Nells born in England and Wales are between 6 and 18, and there are at least 4,100 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 1.3% chance that at least one of them will be called Nell.
How many babies are named Nel each year?
Includes all spellings: Nel, Nell, Nelle. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Nel spelling rank?
Where does the Nell spelling rank?
Where does the Nelle spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Nel most popular?
The most popular form of the name, Nell, peaked in 2022, when 236 babies in England and Wales were given the name. The Nel spelling itself peaked in 2017, with 49 babies.
How many people are called Nel?
At least 4,100 people named Nel in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Nel?
Most living Nels are between 6 and 18; the most common age is about 4.
Is Nel becoming more or less popular?
Broadly steady in recent years.