Nieves
Nieves was last recorded in 2017, when 7 babies were given it; 1,581 Americans have been recorded with it between 1901 and 2017 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nieves by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nieves mean?
Wiktionary, Spanish section
Nieves is “a female given name” Its etymology gives the sense “snows” (nieves).
From nieves (“snows”), shortened from María (de las) Nieves, a Roman Catholic epithet of the Virgin Mary as “Our Lady of the Snows”.
Meaning: Wiktionary, Spanish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nieves?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,714, in 2017; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
37 babies in 1925, the peak
Nieves peaked in 1925, when 37 babies were given it (23 girls, #1,833 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 7 | #13,714 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 5 | #18,114 | under 5 | |
| 2015 | 5 | #18,386 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 8 | #12,760 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 7 | #14,212 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 5 | #18,797 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 6 | #16,698 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,595 | under 5 | |
| 2007 | 5 | #19,706 | 7 | #10,559 |
| 2006 | 11 | #10,415 | 6 | #11,631 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 10 | #10,707 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 17 | #7,009 | under 5 | |
| 2003 | 13 | #8,346 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 12 | #8,670 | 5 | #11,932 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,879 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 5 | #16,835 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 12 | #8,073 | 5 | #11,091 |
| 1998 | 7 | #12,019 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,729 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 6 | #12,976 | 5 | #10,072 |
| 1995 | 5 | #15,072 | 5 | #9,861 |
| 1994 | under 5 | 6 | #8,491 | |
| 1993 | 5 | #15,066 | 10 | #5,661 |
| 1992 | 14 | #6,538 | 6 | #8,146 |
| 1991 | 12 | #7,262 | 8 | #6,346 |
| 1990 | 8 | #9,878 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 6 | #11,867 | 8 | #6,046 |
| 1988 | 12 | #6,548 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 14 | #5,517 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 13 | #5,665 | 6 | #6,482 |
| 1985 | 14 | #5,259 | 7 | #5,573 |
| 1984 | 12 | #5,777 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 11 | #6,087 | 7 | #5,312 |
| 1982 | 11 | #6,225 | 10 | #4,142 |
| 1981 | 10 | #6,665 | 5 | #6,974 |
| 1980 | 11 | #6,195 | 7 | #5,331 |
| 1979 | 10 | #6,540 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 6 | #5,561 | |
| 1977 | 8 | #7,346 | 5 | #6,548 |
| 1976 | under 5 | 6 | #5,410 | |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,701 | 6 | #5,262 |
| 1974 | 6 | #8,390 | 5 | #5,763 |
| 1973 | 6 | #8,100 | 7 | #4,373 |
| 1972 | 12 | #4,709 | 8 | #3,860 |
| 1971 | 7 | #7,126 | 6 | #4,755 |
| 1970 | 5 | #8,906 | 11 | #3,014 |
| 1969 | 6 | #7,209 | 10 | #3,001 |
| 1968 | 7 | #6,061 | 5 | #4,560 |
| 1967 | 8 | #5,304 | 8 | #3,162 |
| 1966 | under 5 | 5 | #4,353 | |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,222 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 7 | #5,846 | 10 | #2,789 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,796 | 8 | #3,248 |
| 1961 | 10 | #4,456 | 9 | #3,038 |
| 1960 | 9 | #4,676 | 5 | #4,432 |
| 1959 | under 5 | 8 | #3,204 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 7 | #3,482 | |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,883 | 6 | #3,849 |
| 1956 | 8 | #4,719 | 7 | #3,438 |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,517 | 7 | #3,411 |
| 1954 | 8 | #4,548 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,482 | 5 | #4,192 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,374 | 11 | #2,464 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,697 | 6 | #3,611 |
| 1950 | 12 | #3,177 | 13 | #2,172 |
| 1949 | 12 | #3,126 | 8 | #2,950 |
| 1948 | 10 | #3,527 | 11 | #2,406 |
| 1947 | 10 | #3,632 | 9 | #2,812 |
| 1946 | 9 | #3,595 | 7 | #3,097 |
| 1945 | 5 | #5,050 | 8 | #2,701 |
| 1944 | 7 | #3,966 | 11 | #2,272 |
| 1943 | 6 | #4,555 | 7 | #3,149 |
| 1942 | under 5 | 9 | #2,659 | |
| 1941 | 8 | #3,478 | 5 | #3,859 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,076 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | 5 | #4,755 | 7 | #3,033 |
| 1938 | 14 | #2,310 | 12 | #2,150 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,884 | 8 | #2,829 |
| 1936 | 8 | #3,308 | 5 | #3,913 |
| 1935 | 11 | #2,688 | 12 | #2,210 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,686 | under 5 | |
| 1933 | 11 | #2,643 | 9 | #2,673 |
| 1932 | 16 | #2,105 | 11 | #2,423 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,279 | 5 | #4,158 |
| 1930 | 18 | #2,003 | 10 | #2,730 |
| 1929 | 16 | #2,160 | 12 | #2,417 |
| 1928 | 21 | #1,877 | 12 | #2,488 |
| 1927 | 20 | #2,000 | 10 | #2,847 |
| 1926 | 26 | #1,651 | 9 | #3,066 |
| 1925 | 23 | #1,833 | 14 | #2,282 |
| 1924 | 17 | #2,286 | 12 | #2,580 |
| 1923 | 11 | #3,065 | 9 | #3,101 |
| 1922 | 17 | #2,256 | 7 | #3,767 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,471 | 15 | #2,232 |
| 1920 | 17 | #2,238 | 5 | #4,768 |
| 1919 | 14 | #2,470 | 9 | #3,047 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,371 | 5 | #4,614 |
| 1917 | 10 | #3,018 | under 5 | |
| 1916 | 10 | #2,969 | 8 | #3,105 |
| 1915 | 10 | #2,843 | under 5 | |
| 1914 | 8 | #2,806 | 6 | #3,151 |
| 1913 | 6 | #3,086 | 5 | #3,121 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,298 | under 5 | |
| 1905 | 5 | #2,149 | under 5 | |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,873 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Nieves a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,581 Americans recorded as Nieves, 62% are girls and 38% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Nieves: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nieves, and how old are they?
An estimated 862 Americans named Nieves and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (55% of everyone recorded); the median is 46 years old and half are between 32 and 67. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 3,681 people named Nieves (3,109 women and girls, 572 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 964 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.8 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.
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 Nieves born?
The states with the most babies named Nieves are Texas, California and New York, with 100% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 607 | not ranked | 5.8× |
| California | 17 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| New York | 5 | not ranked | 0.0× |
Where Nieves is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nieves is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 5.8 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 Nieves with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Nieves
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 Nieves and names like it
- Compare Nieves and NatividadBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sNieves peaked in 1925.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nieves since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Nieves: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1925The year the most babies were named Nieves.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Nieves alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with NMost given first.