Nellie
Meaning and origin
From English Nellie. First recorded as a Swedish name (as Nelli) in 1793.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Nellie (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Nellie has been falling over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2007. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 132 |
| 1999 | 128 |
| 2000 | 125 |
| 2001 | 142 |
| 2002 | 199 |
| 2003 | 233 |
| 2004 | 271 |
| 2005 | 315 |
| 2006 | 378 |
| 2007 | 469 |
| 2008 | 435 |
| 2009 | 441 |
| 2010 | 421 |
| 2011 | 466 |
| 2012 | 404 |
| 2013 | 349 |
| 2014 | 339 |
| 2015 | 298 |
| 2016 | 287 |
| 2017 | 265 |
| 2018 | 232 |
| 2019 | 222 |
| 2020 | 195 |
| 2021 | 163 |
| 2022 | 188 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 799 |
| 2000 | 924 |
| 2001 | 1,061 |
| 2002 | 1,253 |
| 2003 | 1,484 |
| 2004 | 1,759 |
| 2005 | 2,062 |
| 2006 | 2,434 |
| 2007 | 2,896 |
| 2008 | 3,343 |
| 2009 | 3,788 |
| 2010 | 4,223 |
| 2011 | 4,677 |
| 2012 | 5,077 |
| 2013 | 5,436 |
| 2014 | 5,776 |
| 2015 | 6,070 |
| 2016 | 6,357 |
| 2017 | 6,618 |
| 2018 | 6,849 |
| 2019 | 7,058 |
| 2020 | 7,254 |
Nellie in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Nellie.Hi! My name is Nellie.
- Nellie har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Nellie has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Nellies mamma är lärare.Nellie's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Nellies mamma is Nellie's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Nellie
How do you pronounce Nellie in Swedish?
In IPA, Nellie is /¹nɛlɪ/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Nellie mean?
From English Nellie. First recorded as a Swedish name (as Nelli) in 1793.
How popular is Nellie in Sweden?
188 babies were named Nellie in 2022. In 2020, 7,254 people in Sweden had Nellie as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been falling lately and peaked in 2007 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.