Nell
Nell is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 150 births. Its best rank was 144th, in 1886.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 1500.01% of girls
- Peak year
- 1917766 births
- Best rank
- #144in 1886
- Since 1880
- 27,483people given the name
The story in the numbers
27,483 girls have been named Nell in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1917, with 766 births.
It is rising: its share of births is at least one and a half times what it was ten years ago.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1923, and the 1920s alone account for 22%. It has spent 76 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among girls, year by year
By decade
| Decade | girls named Nell | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,345 | |
| 1890s | 2,138 | |
| 1900s | 2,436 | |
| 1910s | 5,613 | |
| 1920s | 6,034 | |
| 1930s | 3,984 | |
| 1940s | 2,074 | |
| 1950s | 1,122 | |
| 1960s | 462 | |
| 1970s | 340 | |
| 1980s | 271 | |
| 1990s | 259 | |
| 2000s | 259 | |
| 2010s | 579 | |
| 2020s | 567 |
In 1917, its biggest year
Nell was the 221st most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1917 were Mary, Helen, Dorothy, Margaret and Ruth. See all of 1917.
Names that rose and fell with Nell
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Henriettapeak 1918
- Altapeak 1918
- Inapeak 1921
- Althapeak 1917
- Elvinapeak 1920
- Floypeak 1918
- Edythpeak 1918
- Jettiepeak 1918
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.