Nelly

Nelly: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“from Eleanor or Helen”
Origin
English
Say it
NEL-ee · 2 syllables
Used for
Girls

A pet form of Nell, traditionally used for Eleanor, Ellen, or Helen. The exact base name varies by family and usage.

How popular is Nelly?

202452.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Nelly in 2024174

2024 rank#1,354 girls

Peak year2007

Total US babies since 18807,689

Nelly has been fairly stable over the last fifteen years.

Names like Nelly

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Nelliebright one · English
  • Nellbright, shining one · English
  • Neldauncertain; possibly from Nell · English
  • Oliviaolive tree · English
  • Evelyndesired; little bird · English
  • Harperharp player · English
  • Violetviolet flower · English
  • Hazelhazel tree · English

Nelly questions

What does the name Nelly mean?

Nelly means "from Eleanor or Helen". It comes from English. A pet form of Nell, traditionally used for Eleanor, Ellen, or Helen. The exact base name varies by family and usage.

Is Nelly a boy or girl name?

Nelly is mainly a girl's name in US records (99% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Nelly?

174 US babies were named Nelly in 2024. Its peak year was 2007.

How do you pronounce Nelly?

Nelly is usually pronounced NEL-ee.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.