Nelson

Boys’ name Recorded 1880-2025

Nelson was given to 300 boys in 2025, #825 among boys’ names; 80,140 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).

An estimated 49,100 Americans named Nelson and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (61% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 27 and 64.

Babies named Nelson each year, first recorded in 1880

Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).

Nelson or Neilson Names of the 1950s Names in New York

Births of Nelson by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

What does Nelson mean?

Wiktionary, English section

Nelson is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”

From Middle English Neil + -son and Nell + -son.
In the United States, also an Anglicisation of North Germanic (Scandinavian) surnames such as Nilsen, Nielsen, and Nilsson, equivalent to “son of Nicholas”.

/ˈnɛlsən/

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary, entry Nelson (English), CC BY‑SA 4.0. Quoted from the entry; text after a cross-reference to another sense is left out.

Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).

How popular is Nelson?

#825 among boys’ names, 2025

Nelson fell from #627 in 2015 to #825 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.22 to 0.18 per 1,000.

1,084 babies in 1959, the peak

Nelson peaked in 1959, when 1,084 boys were given it, #244 among boys’ names. The 300 births of 2025 are 28% of that peak.

Nelson by year
Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2025	300	#825	0.18
2024	323	#778	0.19
2023	311	#798	0.18
2022	315	#799	0.18
2021	358	#722	0.20
2020	388	#670	0.22
2019	407	#654	0.23
2018	374	#672	0.21
2017	411	#632	0.22
2016	431	#622	0.23

Every recorded year (146)

Year	Births	Rank	Per 1,000 boys
2015	426	#627	0.22
2014	409	#645	0.21
2013	442	#581	0.23
2012	466	#558	0.25
2011	457	#556	0.24
2010	447	#569	0.23
2009	520	#520	0.26
2008	551	#498	0.27
2007	584	#467	0.28
2006	605	#448	0.29
2005	595	#441	0.30
2004	574	#450	0.29
2003	612	#422	0.31
2002	619	#409	0.32
2001	615	#407	0.32
2000	602	#414	0.31
1999	605	#402	0.32
1998	615	#397	0.32
1997	619	#387	0.33
1996	621	#377	0.33
1995	681	#356	0.36
1994	720	#342	0.37
1993	761	#333	0.39
1992	801	#319	0.40
1991	810	#318	0.40
1990	931	#279	0.45
1989	856	#287	0.43
1988	758	#301	0.40
1987	712	#302	0.38
1986	714	#293	0.39
1985	706	#290	0.38
1984	651	#303	0.36
1983	630	#312	0.35
1982	658	#302	0.36
1981	640	#302	0.36
1980	684	#297	0.38
1979	670	#297	0.39
1978	680	#285	0.41
1977	670	#292	0.41
1976	731	#266	0.47
1975	690	#277	0.44
1974	675	#278	0.43
1973	580	#303	0.37
1972	620	#300	0.38
1971	775	#273	0.44
1970	756	#279	0.41
1969	764	#270	0.43
1968	764	#261	0.44
1967	789	#255	0.45
1966	724	#274	0.41
1965	815	#259	0.44
1964	826	#268	0.41
1963	982	#246	0.48
1962	931	#253	0.45
1961	951	#254	0.45
1960	1,016	#250	0.48
1959	1,084	#244	0.51
1958	948	#254	0.45
1957	942	#250	0.44
1956	915	#241	0.43
1955	914	#235	0.44
1954	947	#228	0.46
1953	1,012	#214	0.51
1952	830	#232	0.43
1951	802	#240	0.43
1950	804	#229	0.45
1949	782	#232	0.44
1948	814	#227	0.46
1947	814	#224	0.44
1946	740	#222	0.46
1945	696	#206	0.52
1944	715	#207	0.52
1943	794	#203	0.56
1942	870	#181	0.63
1941	791	#186	0.64
1940	807	#182	0.70
1939	801	#178	0.72
1938	795	#182	0.72
1937	661	#194	0.62
1936	631	#195	0.61
1935	578	#209	0.56
1934	569	#214	0.55
1933	572	#205	0.58
1932	629	#204	0.60
1931	607	#209	0.58
1930	630	#209	0.57
1929	590	#215	0.55
1928	681	#201	0.61
1927	673	#206	0.60
1926	685	#202	0.62
1925	738	#186	0.66
1924	753	#188	0.66
1923	704	#195	0.64
1922	659	#201	0.61
1921	704	#194	0.64
1920	740	#187	0.70
1919	682	#187	0.70
1918	664	#190	0.66
1917	605	#194	0.65
1916	619	#188	0.70
1915	606	#184	0.71
1914	527	#171	0.80
1913	357	#188	0.70
1912	349	#166	0.81
1911	180	#175	0.80
1910	142	#189	0.73
1909	113	#194	0.69
1908	112	#189	0.73
1907	129	#168	0.88
1906	100	#182	0.75
1905	126	#160	1.0
1904	81	#204	0.63
1903	93	#179	0.78
1902	78	#202	0.64
1901	97	#159	0.91
1900	135	#154	0.90
1899	107	#147	1.0
1898	112	#153	0.91
1897	104	#150	0.92
1896	86	#191	0.72
1895	108	#143	0.92
1894	76	#196	0.66
1893	72	#200	0.64
1892	98	#161	0.80
1891	86	#155	0.85
1890	71	#191	0.64
1889	80	#170	0.72
1888	85	#175	0.70
1887	62	#195	0.61
1886	78	#176	0.70
1885	83	#160	0.77
1884	89	#154	0.78
1883	79	#161	0.76
1882	104	#136	0.91
1881	90	#138	0.89
1880	99	#138	0.90

Download Nelson’s births by year (CSV)

Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.

Is Nelson a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Nelson has been given almost only to boys: 431 girls in 146 years of records.

Girls and boys named Nelson: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.

How many people are named Nelson, and how old are they?

49,100 alive in 2026, estimated

That is 61% of the 80,140 Americans ever recorded as Nelson. The median Nelson alive today is 45 years old; half are between 27 and 64.

The 2020 Census counted 78,256 people named Nelson (322 women and girls, 77,934 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 51,439 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.

Alive today, by age

100-10912

90-99410

80-892,510

70-795,230

60-697,060

50-596,270

40-49 (median)6,230

30-397,330

20-295,940

10-194,690

0-93,170

Alive today, by generation

By generation
Generation	Born	Alive
Silent Generation	1928-1945	2,590
Baby Boomers	1946-1964	11,400
Generation X	1965-1980	10,100
Millennials	1981-1996	11,200
Generation Z	1997-2012	8,940
Generation Alpha	2013-2025	4,880

An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.

Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).

Where are babies named Nelson born?

The states with the most babies named Nelson are New York, California and Pennsylvania, with 32% of its births recorded by state since 1910.

States with the most births: girls and boys together; rank among boys’ names in the state in 2025
State	Since 1910	Rank, boys	vs. national
New York	12,427	#522	2.0×
California	6,035	#750	0.9×
Pennsylvania	4,539	#830	1.0×
Texas	4,247	#1,033	0.8×
Ohio	3,346	#917	0.9×
New Jersey	3,325	#810	1.4×
Florida	3,238	#744	1.4×
Virginia	3,056	#655	1.7×
Illinois	2,570	#1,105	0.6×
North Carolina	2,537	#1,109	1.1×

Where Nelson is more common than its national share predicts

Relative to its national share, Nelson is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1910 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.

Hawaii2.17×

New York1.98×

Virginia1.68×

Louisiana1.50×

New Jersey1.44×

Maryland1.41×

Florida1.37×

Maine1.26×

Bars start at 1× (as often as the national share predicts).

States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Nelson with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.

Names spelled alike

Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 80,358 babies since 1880, Nelson is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 300 of their 300 babies (100%), again the most given.

Nelson and the names spelled alike
Name	Since 1880	Births 2025	Peak year
Nelson	80,140	300	1959
Neilson	218	under 5	1975

Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.

Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Nelson

Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.

Name	Recorded	1880-2025
Marshall	98,604
Martin	317,037
Ulysses	18,680
Edwin	248,744
Williams	6,150
Van	31,194

Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.

More about Nelson and names like it

Compare Nelson and NeilsonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
The most given names of the 1950sNelson peaked in 1959.
New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nelson since 1910.
From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Nelson: every such name, by how often it is given.
The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Nelson.
The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Nelson alive today were born 1946-1964.
Names starting with NMost given first.

Compare Nelson with another name