# Nell (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/nell/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Nel |
| US babies named this | 27,710 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 98 / 27,612 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3,183, 1996 to 2025 |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 32 | 4,538 |
| 2012 | 32 | 4,574 |
| 2013 | 44 | 3,557 |
| 2014 | 42 | 3,701 |
| 2015 | 61 | 2,879 |
| 2016 | 70 | 2,556 |
| 2017 | 87 | 2,196 |
| 2018 | 72 | 2,471 |
| 2019 | 115 | 1,784 |
| 2020 | 79 | 2,273 |
| 2021 | 96 | 2,020 |
| 2022 | 119 | 1,749 |
| 2023 | 124 | 1,679 |
| 2024 | 150 | 1,463 |
| 2025 | 128 | 1,628 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 5 | 1,440 |
| 1910 | 6 | 1,533 |
| 1913 | 8 | 2,213 |
| 1916 | 7 | 3,404 |
| 1918 | 9 | 3,030 |
| 1919 | 8 | 3,299 |
| 1922 | 7 | 3,767 |
| 1923 | 5 | 4,693 |
| 1924 | 5 | 4,769 |
| 1927 | 6 | 4,060 |
| 1928 | 6 | 4,011 |
| 1933 | 9 | 2,671 |
| 1935 | 6 | 3,533 |
| 1939 | 5 | 3,824 |
| 1977 | 6 | 5,636 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 117 | 395 |
| 2012 | 113 | 410 |
| 2013 | 131 | 345 |
| 2014 | 131 | 353 |
| 2015 | 140 | 334 |
| 2016 | 139 | 345 |
| 2017 | 159 | 306 |
| 2018 | 141 | 340 |
| 2019 | 156 | 305 |
| 2020 | 129 | 347 |
| 2021 | 160 | 296 |
| 2022 | 173 | 263 |
| 2023 | 149 | 294 |
| 2024 | 108 | 400 |
| 2025 | 100 | 408 |

## People named Nell

- Nell Carter, American actress and singer (1948–2003)
- Nell Tiger Free, English actress
- Nell Fisher, English and New Zealand actress (born 2011)
- Nellie McKay, American musician
- Nell Hall Hopman, Australian female tennis player (1909–1968)
- Nell Shipman, actress, screenwriter, producer, animal trainer (1892–1970)
- Nell Brinkley, American illustrator (1886–1944)
- Patricia Nell Warren, American writer (1936-2019)
- Nell Irvin Painter, American historian
- Nell Campbell, Australian actor and singer
- Nell Franzen, actress (1889-1973)
- Nell Williams, British actress

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.