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Nel

#14,431 in 2025Girls' name

Short form of Petronella

Nel has been given to 133 babies in the U.S. since 1908. In 2025 it ranked #14,431 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2013, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Nel, 2025

1 in 553,000

Nel over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nel: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Petronella

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nel means

Nel is a short form of Petronella.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Nel is used in Dutch and Polish.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Nel → Petronella → Peter. The family’s proposed meaning is “stone, rock”, recorded in English with the source elements pétros.

Origin, language, and formation

Nel is used in English, Asturian and Dutch.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Petronella, Nelson, Nell and Manuel.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Asturian, Nel is pronounced /ˈnel/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 133 girls were recorded with the name Nel between 1908 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 11 in 2013; its best national rank was #2,343 in 1908.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #13,089 in 2020 to #14,431 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #10,660 in 2015 to #14,431 in 2025.

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 Nel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 553,000
6 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 268,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#14,431
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nel 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 2025 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 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nel was born before 2015 — so the typical Nel is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
37.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
77.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
108
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 37.6% of all recorded uses (50).

Is Nel 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
−2,575
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,342
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−3,771
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.60×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
54.5%
Peak was 2013 (11)
Years since peak
12
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
26.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,343
1908

Nel around the world

Where Nel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1999–2025
    #894
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2011–2025
    #539
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2007–2025
    #608
    in 2025
  • France
    1999–2025
    #5,935
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2022–2022
    #3,322
    in 2022

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Statistics Canada. ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Nel by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#14,431
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,342
Best rank ever
#2,343
1908
Peak year
2013
11 that year
First recorded
1908
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
133
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Nel

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

NeliNelyaNelsyNelaNelyNelliNelaniNelehNellielNinelNelsieNeliahNeliaNelsaNeltaNelieDanelAnnelNelleeNellyeYanelNelahNelissaNellene

Sibling names for Nel

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

Explore around Nel

Top names of 2013, Nel's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1908Girls' names starting with NDutch Girl Names