Name Awesome

Nieves

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Snows

Nieves has been given to 1,581 babies in the U.S. since 1901. 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 1926, with 26 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 62% girls, 38% boys all-time.

Babies named Nieves, 2017

1 in 511,000

Nieves over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Nieves over time

In 2017, Nieves went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19012017

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Nieves: meaning, origin, and history

Snows

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nieves means

Nieves means “snows”, associated with nieves.

Origin, language, and formation

Nieves is used in Spanish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include María.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 986 girls were recorded with the name Nieves between 1901 and 2017. Its highest annual count was 26 in 1926; its best national rank was #1,651 in 1926.

In the United States, 595 boys were recorded with the name Nieves between 1913 and 2007. Its highest annual count was 15 in 1921; its best national rank was #2,150 in 1938.

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 Nieves?

Nieves had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2017, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2017
1 in 511,000
7 of 3,577,106 births
Among girls only
1 in 247,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2017
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
354,210 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nieves 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 2017 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 354,210 children born in 2017 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nieves. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nievess were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nieves was born before 1953 — so the typical Nieves is around 72 today.

Median birth year
1953
About 72 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
18.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
18.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
521
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 18.6% of all recorded uses (183).

Is Nieves 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 1926 (26)
Years since peak
99
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
44.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,651
1926

Spellings of Nieves

Nieves is not the most common spelling — Neve is, with 41.0% against Nieves's 25.1%.

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 Nieves is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Nieves was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 50,000 girls, against 1 in 128,707 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 50,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3New York1 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. Nieves has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Nieves is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Nieves was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 98,385 across all states with data. It was least common in California (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 50,000
  2. 2California1 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. Nieves has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nieves around the world

Where Nieves 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
    1919–1976
    #2,469
    in 1976

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

Nieves 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
#1,651
1926
Peak year
1926
26 that year
First recorded
1901
Last recorded
2017
All-time count
986
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,150
1938
Peak year
1921
15 that year
First recorded
1913
Last recorded
2007
All-time count
595
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Nieves

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

NiemaNieshaNielleNieveNiemahReevesNieshiaNielaNierraNielahYvesNiekaNievaNiennaNiesaNieyaNieashaNieishaNiekiaNiellaNietaNiejaNieraAves

Sibling names for Nieves

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 Nieves

Top names of 1926, Nieves's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1926Girls' names starting with N