Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Nelly?
Births per year, rank history and how many Nellies are alive today.
Nelly (female) is an uncommon spelling of the girls' name Nellie in England and Wales, ranked 353rd in 2025 with 121 babies given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 2019, when 211 babies were given the name, the 234th most popular that year. Its fortunes dipped to rank 432 in 2024 before climbing back to the 353rd place it holds today. Numbers have been falling in recent years.
Across all spellings of the name, the Nellie you are most likely to meet is around 4 years old - or else around 79: the name has two living generations. Half of all Nellies born in England and Wales are between 11 and 78, and there are at least 22,000 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 females, there's roughly a 6.7% chance that at least one of them will be called Nellie.
How many babies are named Nelly each year?
Includes all spellings: Nelly, Nellie. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Nelly spelling rank?
Where does the Nellie 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 Nelly most popular?
The most popular form of the name, Nellie, peaked in 1904, when around 4,200 babies in England and Wales were given the name. The Nelly spelling itself peaked in 2019, with 211 babies.
How many people are called Nelly?
At least 22,000 people named Nelly in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Nelly?
Most living Nellies are between 11 and 78; the most common age is about 4. There is a second cluster around 79.
Is Nelly becoming more or less popular?
Declining: numbers have been falling in recent years.