Name meaning & stats
Nelly
Nelly means “light (debated)”. 7,227 US babies since 1940, peak 2007.
What it means
“light (debated)”
Spelling of Nellie
In US birth records
Peak year: 2007
7,227 US babies were named Nelly between 1940 and 2025.
Careers
Not enough notable people named Nelly (or its spelling family) to say anything reliable yet. That's a gap in the data, not the name.
Spelling family
1 in 5 Nellies spell it Nelly
Names that sound the same, grouped by Heyotag. Share of US babies since 1940.
Name twins (peaked around 2007)