Nessie

#16,579 in 2025Girls' name

Pure, chaste, through Agnes

Nessie has been given to 97 babies in the U.S. since 1902. In 2025 it ranked #16,579 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1915, with 10 recorded.

Babies named Nessie, 2025

1 in 663,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nessie: meaning, origin, and history

Pure, chaste, through Agnes

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nessie means

Nessie belongs to the name family reached through Nessie → Agnes. Its meaning is “pure, chaste”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Suffixed with -ie, compare Neddie and Nellie, respectively from Edward and Eleanor

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Nessie (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Nessie is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Agnes.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Nessie is pronounced /ˈnɛsi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 97 girls were recorded with the name Nessie between 1902 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1915; its best national rank was #1,964 in 1902.

How common is Nessie?

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

Among all babies, 2025: 1 in 663,000; 5 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only: 1 in 321,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025: #16,579; of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size: 459,581 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Nessie 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 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nessie. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nessies were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nessie was born before 1919 — so the typical Nessie is around 106 today.

Median birth year: 1919; About 106 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 51.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 10.3%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 15; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 51.5% of all recorded uses (50).

Is Nessie 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: +410; Places climbed
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: 50.0%; Peak was 1915 (10)
Years since peak: 110; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 19.8% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,964; 1902

Spellings of Nessie

Nessie is not the most common spelling — Leslie is, with 22.2% against Nessie's <0.01%.

Leslie22.2%270,429
Elsie15.6%190,072
Bessie14.0%170,140
Jessie14.0%170,036
Nellie12.5%152,691
Nettie4.1%49,443
Cassie3.8%46,642
Essie3.3%39,682

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.

Nessie around the world

Where Nessie 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
2025–2025
#5,927
in 2025
France
2010–2025
#5,785
in 2025
South Australia
1946–1957
#581
in 1957

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.

Nessie by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: #16,579
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: New entry
Best rank ever: #1,964; 1902
Peak year: 1915; 10 that year
First recorded: 1902
Last recorded: 2025
All-time count: 97
Count in 2025: 5

Names similar to Nessie

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

Nesiah Nesly Maesie Nessiah Neshia Jaysie Nesta Neslihan Nesya Ellsie Sosie Kynsie Keysie Kissie Walsie Russie Daysie Nesreen Dotsie Nelsie Pansie Linsie Maysie Ramsie

Sibling names for Nessie

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

Johnie Leone Maurine Alpha Mozelle Hester Albina Alene

For a brother

Waldo Granville Winfield Lyman Regis Gustave Alva Dewitt

Explore around Nessie

Top names of 1915, Nessie's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1902 Girls' names starting with N