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Neli

#14,432 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Nedelya

Neli has been given to 319 babies in the U.S. since 1975. In 2025 it ranked #14,432 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2007, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Neli, 2025

1 in 553,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Neli: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Nedelya

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Neli means

Neli is a diminutive of Nedelya.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Neli is used in Bulgarian and Slovene.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nedelya.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 319 girls were recorded with the name Neli between 1975 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 15 in 2007; its best national rank was #7,537 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #10,065 in 2020 to #14,432 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.

How common is Neli?

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
#14,432
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Neli 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 Neli. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nelis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Neli was born before 2004 — so the typical Neli is around 21 today.

Median birth year
2004
About 21 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
33.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
60.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
319
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 33.2% of all recorded uses (106).

Is Neli 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
−5,629
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,367
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
40.0%
Peak was 2007 (15)
Years since peak
18
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#7,537
2022

Spellings of Neli

Neli is not the most common spelling — Nellie is, with 14.3% against Neli's 0.03%.

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.

Where Neli is used

Across 1910–2025, Neli was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,088,219 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Neli has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Neli around the world

Where Neli 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
    2009–2025
    #3,035
    in 2025
  • France
    1978–2017
    #6,352
    in 2017
  • South Australia
    1958–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Neli by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#14,432
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,367
Best rank ever
#7,537
2022
Peak year
2007
15 that year
First recorded
1975
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
319
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Neli

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

NelaNelyNelsyNelliNelMeliNelaniJaeliNelyaNyeliAneliAmeliYaeliJoeliNeliaNeltaMaeliNoeliAnaeliRaeliNelehNellielJareliNelson

Sibling names for Neli

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 Neli

Top names of 2007, Neli's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2022Girls' names starting with N