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Nelia

#7,785 in 2025Girls' name

Short form of Kornelia

Nelia has been given to 1,580 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #7,785 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2015, with 24 recorded.

Babies named Nelia, 2025

1 in 237,000

Nelia over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nelia: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Kornelia

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nelia means

Nelia is a short form of Kornelia.

Origin, language, and formation

Nelia is used in English and Norwegian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kornelia.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,580 girls were recorded with the name Nelia between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 24 in 2015; its best national rank was #608 in 1884.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,255 in 2020 to #7,785 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #5,613 in 2015 to #7,785 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 Nelia?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 237,000
14 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 115,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#7,785
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nelia 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 164,137 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nelia. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nelias were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nelia was born before 1954 — so the typical Nelia is around 71 today.

Median birth year
1954
About 71 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
10.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
22.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
839
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 10.3% of all recorded uses (163).

Is Nelia 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
−1,453
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,530
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,172
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.58×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
58.3%
Peak was 2015 (24)
Years since peak
10
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#608
1884

Spellings of Nelia

Nelia is not the most common spelling — Julia is, with 16.6% against Nelia's 0.05%.

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 Nelia is used

Across 1910–2025, Nelia was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 669,361 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Louisiana1 in —
  3. 3Massachusetts1 in —
  4. 4North Carolina1 in —
  5. 5Texas1 in —
  6. 6Virginia1 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. Nelia has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nelia around the world

Where Nelia 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
    2013–2025
    #4,201
    in 2025
  • France
    1913–2025
    #302
    in 2025
  • Norway
    2022–2025
    #198
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2004–2024
    #2,104
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2010–2010
    #801
    in 2010

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

Nelia by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#7,785
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,530
Best rank ever
#608
1884
Peak year
2015
24 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,580
Count in 2025
14

Names similar to Nelia

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

NellaJaliaNelleElliaNelliCaliaNelmaZeliaNelvaNellyHaliaKyliaKeliaNelyNelaNelsyVeliaNaliaEveliaNelidaTeliaAaliaOtiliaNellia

Sibling names for Nelia

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 Nelia

Top names of 2015, Nelia's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1884Girls' names starting with NNorwegian NamesUncommon Norwegian Girl Names