Nemesis

Girls' name

Distribution of what is due, righteous anger

Nemesis has been given to 166 babies in the U.S. since 1979. 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 1996, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Nemesis, 2023

1 in 552,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nemesis: meaning, origin, and history

Distribution of what is due, righteous anger

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nemesis means

Nemesis means “distribution of what is due, righteous anger”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Nemesis is used in Greek Mythology.

Another recorded pronunciation is /né.me.sis/ and /ˈnɛm.ə.sɪs/ for Nemesis.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 166 girls were recorded with the name Nemesis between 1979 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1996; its best national rank was #6,633 in 1996.

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.

U.S. Social Security Administration: national name data and limitations

How common is Nemesis?

Nemesis had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023: 1 in 552,000; 6 of 3,314,783 births
Among girls only: 1 in 267,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 382,940 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Nemesis 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 2023 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 382,940 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nemesis. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nemesiss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nemesis was born before 1999 — so the typical Nemesis is around 26 today.

Median birth year: 1999; About 26 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 51.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 50.6%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 166; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 51.2% of all recorded uses (85).

Is Nemesis 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 1996 (14)
Years since peak: 29; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 38.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #6,633; 1996

Spellings of Nemesis

Nemesis is not the most common spelling — Genesis is, with 94.1% against Nemesis's 0.17%.

Genesis94.1%93,578
Jenesis5.8%5,743
Nemesis0.17%166

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 Nemesis is used

Across 1910–2025, Nemesis was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 889,599 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1California1 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. Nemesis has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nemesis around the world

Where Nemesis 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.

France
2003–2025
#5,857
in 2025

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Nemesis 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: #6,633; 1996
Peak year: 1996; 14 that year
First recorded: 1979
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 166
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Nemesis

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

Jynesis Jenisis Jenasis Genysis Jhenesis Nemiah Genisis Genasis Persis Oasis Aleksis Yenesis Icesis Jennesis Gynesis Genessis Issis Nema Henesis Jennasis Elexsis Alexsis Iysis Gennesis

Sibling names for Nemesis

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

Iman Breann Cinthia Katia Kaela Tristan Lexus Estefania

For a brother

Austyn Claudio Dontae Deion Hernan Dangelo Samual Tristin

Explore around Nemesis

Top names of 1996, Nemesis's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1996 Girls' names starting with N Ancient Names Outside the Top 1000 Greek Goddess Names