Nichelle
Nichelle was given to 8 girls in 2025, #11,635 among girls’ names; 5,548 Americans have been recorded with it since 1961 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,280 Americans named Nichelle and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 43 years old and half are between 34 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nichelle by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nichelle mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nichelle is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nichelle?
#11,635 among girls’ names, 2025
Nichelle fell from #6,647 in 2015 to #11,635 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 10.6 to 5.0 per million.
395 babies in 1968, the peak
Nichelle peaked in 1968, when 395 girls were given it, #486 among girls’ names. The 8 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 8 | #11,635 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 9 | #10,864 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 6 | #14,673 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 15 | #7,538 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 9 | #10,887 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 11 | #9,370 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,474 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 13 | #8,475 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,334 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 16 | #7,508 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (65)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 19 | #6,647 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 14 | #8,374 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 18 | #6,940 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 17 | #7,373 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 17 | #7,336 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 23 | #5,915 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 35 | #4,346 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 35 | #4,425 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 31 | #4,772 | 0.02 |
| 2006 | 34 | #4,334 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 40 | #3,705 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 39 | #3,724 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 47 | #3,166 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 39 | #3,506 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 66 | #2,398 | 0.04 |
| 2000 | 57 | #2,622 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 53 | #2,661 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 63 | #2,272 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 97 | #1,634 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 92 | #1,664 | 0.05 |
| 1995 | 116 | #1,413 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 136 | #1,260 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 132 | #1,286 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 181 | #1,031 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 169 | #1,072 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 157 | #1,113 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 155 | #1,084 | 0.08 |
| 1988 | 121 | #1,235 | 0.07 |
| 1987 | 139 | #1,096 | 0.08 |
| 1986 | 118 | #1,198 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 152 | #1,005 | 0.09 |
| 1984 | 132 | #1,063 | 0.08 |
| 1983 | 112 | #1,176 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 123 | #1,144 | 0.07 |
| 1981 | 90 | #1,378 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 135 | #1,057 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 94 | #1,331 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 124 | #1,070 | 0.08 |
| 1977 | 102 | #1,204 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 87 | #1,278 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 117 | #1,031 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 107 | #1,092 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 114 | #1,029 | 0.08 |
| 1972 | 112 | #1,042 | 0.07 |
| 1971 | 164 | #840 | 0.10 |
| 1970 | 205 | #727 | 0.12 |
| 1969 | 331 | #540 | 0.20 |
| 1968 | 395 | #486 | 0.24 |
| 1967 | 361 | #500 | 0.22 |
| 1966 | 33 | #2,043 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 14 | #3,500 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 20 | #2,884 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,794 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 21 | #2,717 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 13 | #3,738 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nichelle a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nichelle has been given almost only to girls: 5 boys in 65 years of records.
Girls and boys named Nichelle: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nichelle, and how old are they?
5,280 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 5,548 Americans ever recorded as Nichelle. The median Nichelle alive today is 43 years old; half are between 34 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 5,498 people named Nichelle (5,487 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,300 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 54 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,310 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,070 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 685 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 166 |
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 Nichelle born?
The states with the most babies named Nichelle are California, New York and Illinois, with 42% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 683 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 455 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 254 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 238 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 234 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 177 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 175 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| New Jersey | 128 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Florida | 125 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Maryland | 111 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Nichelle is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nichelle is most over-represented in Maryland: since 1961 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ 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 Nichelle 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 72,196 babies since 1880, Nichelle is the second most given (7.7% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 54 babies (15%), again the second most given.
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 Nichelle
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
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 Nichelle and names like it
- Compare Nichelle and NicholeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sNichelle peaked in 1968.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nichelle since 1910.
- The top names of 1968The year the most babies were named Nichelle.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Nichelle alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with NMost given first.