Nellie

Where Nellie comes from

Suffixed with -ie, compare Noll and Neddie, respectively from Oliver and Edward.
— Wiktionary's entry for Nellie
  • Vowel-ended
Nellie through the years
  1. 1864
    Nellie Bly born
    American journalist
  2. 1876
    Nellie Tayloe Ross born
    First woman state governor in the U.S.
  3. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #18 among girls, with 995 babies in the first year on record.
  4. 1881
    Peak, #14
    1,096 babies named Nellie, its best rank.
  5. 1955
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #386.
In the dictionary
  • A diminutive of the female given names Eleanor, Ellen, Helen, and Chanel; popular as a formal given name at the turn of the 20th century.
  • A diminutive of the female given name Chanel.
  • A diminutive of the male given name Nelson.
Namesakes
  • Nellie Bly · American journalist, 1864–1922
  • Nellie Tayloe Ross · First woman state governor in the U.S., 1876–1977
  • Nellie McClung · Canadian author, social activist, suffragette & politician, 1873–1951
  • Nellie Connally · First Lady of Texas from 1963 to 1969, 1919–2006
  • Nellie Halstead · British athlete, 1910–1991

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.