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Nelya

#14,435 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Nelli

Nelya has been given to 86 babies in the U.S. since 2015. In 2025 it ranked #14,435 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 15 recorded.

Babies named Nelya, 2025

1 in 553,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nelya: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Nelli

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nelya means

Nelya is a diminutive of Nelli.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Nelya is used in Russian and Ukrainian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nelli.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 86 girls were recorded with the name Nelya between 2015 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 15 in 2023; its best national rank was #7,535 in 2023.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #10,857 in 2020 to #14,435 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #18,371 in 2015 to #14,435 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 Nelya?

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
#14,435
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
382,984 kids
Even odds of a second one

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

When Nelyas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nelya was born before 2021 — so the typical Nelya is around 4 today.

Median birth year
2021
About 4 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
67.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
86
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 67.4% of all recorded uses (58).

Is Nelya 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
−2,577
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,578
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+3,936
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.20×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
40.0%
Peak was 2023 (15)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#7,535
2023

Spellings of Nelya

Nelya is not the most common spelling — Ella is, with 25.9% against Nelya's <0.01%.

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.

Nelya around the world

Where Nelya 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
    2017–2023
    #5,688
    in 2023
  • France
    2001–2025
    #125
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2013–2024
    #963
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1989–1989
    #692
    in 1989

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, 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. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Nelya by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#14,435
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,578
Best rank ever
#7,535
2023
Peak year
2023
15 that year
First recorded
2015
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
86
Count in 2025
6

Names similar to Nelya

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

NelsyNelliNelaniNelehNelNelsaNeliahNeliNelieNellielDahlyaNelsieNelleeNellyeAzalyaMalyaNelahGalyaNelaNelyNelsiAalyaNeleahNello

Sibling names for Nelya

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 Nelya

Top names of 2023, Nelya's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2023Girls' names starting with N