Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1973. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Nely through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 603
- 0 boys · 603 girls
- Most popular year
- 1992
- 31 babies
- 2025
- 6
- #14,438 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- 0%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 6 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 14,438 among girls’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for girls was 31 in 1992. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,162 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Nely’s family of names
The ring: across languages.
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Nely
- Nely Carla AlbertoCape Verdean Spanish handball playerborn 1983
- Nely RegueraSpanish actress and film directorborn 1978
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Nely, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Neela
“a champion” · “referring to a horn”
>99% girls
Shire
“from the country”
22% boys · 78% girls
Reality
Reality is a feminine given name from English.
>99% girls
Nigella
“the champion” · “a champion”
>99% girls
Hayley
“from the field of hay”
>99% girls
Essence
“a perfumed woman”
1% boys · 99% girls
Johany
Johany is a given name, possibly from English. It is used in Spanish.
>99% girls
Enija
Enija is a feminine given name from English. It is used in Latvian.
>99% girls