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Nero

#4,814 in 2025Boys' name

Vigorous, energetic, through Nerō

Nero has been given to 526 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #4,814 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2023, with 39 recorded.

Babies named Nero, 2025

1 in 158,000

Nero over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nero: meaning, origin, and history

Vigorous, energetic, through Nerō

Latin

What Nero means

Nero belongs to the name family reached through Nero → Nerō. Its meaning is “vigorous, energetic”.

Origin, language, and formation

Nero is used in English and Old Czech. Its origins include Latin.

Nero comes through Latin Nerō.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nerō.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Nero is pronounced /ˈniːroʊ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 526 boys were recorded with the name Nero between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 39 in 2023; its best national rank was #2,824 in 1918.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #6,190 in 2020 to #4,814 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,501 in 2015 to #4,814 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 Nero?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 158,000
21 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 81,300
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,814
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
109,425 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nero sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 109,425 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nero. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Neros were born

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

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
39.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
76.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
438
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 39.0% of all recorded uses (205).

Is Nero 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
−952
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,376
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−313
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.95×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
53.8%
Peak was 2023 (39)
Years since peak
2
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
32.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,824
1918

Spellings of Nero

Nero is not the most common spelling — Leo is, with 28.8% against Nero's 0.06%.

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 Nero is used

Across 1910–2025, Nero was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 852,671 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 boys 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. Nero has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nero around the world

Where Nero 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
    2005–2023
    #4,108
    in 2023
  • Canada
    2017–2018
    #2,536
    in 2018
  • South Australia
    2013–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Nero by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,814
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,376
Best rank ever
#2,824
1918
Peak year
2023
39 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
526
Count in 2025
21

Names similar to Nero

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

NeriNeryAeroEeroHeroPieroDineroNeriahOmeroLuceroSeveroSperoCiceroZeroRomeroEroVeroCalogeroSoteroNerikHomeroCorderoAnteroNereo

Sibling names for Nero

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 Nero

Top names of 2023, Nero's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1918Boys' names starting with N