Nelly
Meaning and origin
From English Nelly. First recorded as a Swedish name in 1803.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Nelly (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Nelly 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 | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 80 | – |
| 1999 | 61 | – |
| 2000 | 66 | – |
| 2001 | 79 | – |
| 2002 | 102 | – |
| 2003 | 115 | – |
| 2004 | 112 | – |
| 2005 | 127 | – |
| 2006 | 139 | – |
| 2007 | 187 | – |
| 2008 | 183 | – |
| 2009 | 160 | – |
| 2010 | 143 | 2 |
| 2011 | 143 | – |
| 2012 | 155 | – |
| 2013 | 139 | – |
| 2014 | 104 | – |
| 2015 | 103 | – |
| 2016 | 82 | – |
| 2017 | 81 | – |
| 2018 | 65 | – |
| 2019 | 81 | – |
| 2020 | 58 | – |
| 2021 | 55 | – |
| 2022 | 58 | – |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 1,392 |
| 2000 | 1,414 |
| 2001 | 1,465 |
| 2002 | 1,518 |
| 2003 | 1,588 |
| 2004 | 1,664 |
| 2005 | 1,754 |
| 2006 | 1,877 |
| 2007 | 2,038 |
| 2008 | 2,210 |
| 2009 | 2,355 |
| 2010 | 2,476 |
| 2011 | 2,601 |
| 2012 | 2,737 |
| 2013 | 2,863 |
| 2014 | 2,953 |
| 2015 | 3,041 |
| 2016 | 3,106 |
| 2017 | 3,175 |
| 2018 | 3,236 |
| 2019 | 3,301 |
| 2020 | 3,345 |
Nelly in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Nelly.Hi! My name is Nelly.
- Nelly ringde och sa att hon blir lite sen.Nelly called and said she'll be a bit late.
- Nelly har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Nelly has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Nellys mamma är lärare.Nelly's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Nellys mamma is Nelly's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Nelly
How do you pronounce Nelly in Swedish?
In IPA, Nelly is /¹nɛlʏ/. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Nelly mean?
From English Nelly. First recorded as a Swedish name in 1803.
How popular is Nelly in Sweden?
58 babies were named Nelly in 2022. In 2020, 3,345 people in Sweden had Nelly 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.