Nanny

Girls' name

Diminutive of Ann or Anne

Nanny has been given to 53 babies in the U.S. since 1886. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1921, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Nanny, 1938

1 in 443,000

Nanny over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nanny: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Ann or Anne

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nanny means

Nanny is a diminutive of Ann or Anne.

Origin, language, and formation

Nanny is used in English, Danish and Swedish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Ann and Anne.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 53 girls were recorded with the name Nanny between 1886 and 1938. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1921; its best national rank was #1,228 in 1886.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Nanny?

Nanny had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1938, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1938: 1 in 443,000; 5 of 2,212,569 births
Among girls only: 1 in 221,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1938: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 306,728 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Nanny sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1938 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 306,728 children born in 1938 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nanny. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nannys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nanny was born before 1921 — so the typical Nanny is around 104 today.

Median birth year: 1921; About 104 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 49.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 58.5%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 49.1% of all recorded uses (26).

Is Nanny rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1921 (9)
Years since peak: 104; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 28.6% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,228; 1886

Spellings of Nanny

Nanny is not the most common spelling — Nancy is, with 30.3% against Nanny's <0.01%.

Nancy30.3%1,004,448
Anna27.6%914,859
Ann14.2%470,261
Anne9.8%325,128
Penny3.0%100,619
Jenny2.8%92,101
Sandy2.1%69,072
Mandy1.3%42,465

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Nanny by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,228; 1886
Peak year: 1921; 9 that year
First recorded: 1886
Last recorded: 1938
All-time count: 53
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Nanny

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Nanda Nanea Nandy Nanayaa Nanita Renny Nanine Elanny Nanako Nansi Nanami Hanny Lonny Vanny Hunny Lanny Nanna Donny Nandi Nanaakua Winny Tenny Nansy Nanki

Sibling names for Nanny

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Elvera Rubie Tressie Lavinia Myrtis Margarette Adell Idella

For a brother

Hardy Antone Harmon Arlie Burl Dewitt Patsy Milford

Explore around Nanny

Top names of 1921, Nanny's peak year The 1920s in full Other names that peaked in 1886 Girls' names starting with N