Nelle vs Nelwyn

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Nelle Nelwyn

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 115 years in which either name was published, Nelle for 103 years and Nelwyn for 12 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.

• 1880–1937 Nelle ahead
• 1947–1951 Nelwyn ahead
• 1952–2025 Nelle ahead, apart from one short spell

11 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.

Side by side

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Nelwyns alive today are over 77; half the Nelles are over 16. That is 61 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

• Nelle Tennessee (11.7×), Georgia (6.5×), South Carolina (5.6×)
• Nelwyn Louisiana (30.1×), Texas (5.8×)

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

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