Nilsa
Nilsa was given to 5 girls in 2025, #16,596 among girls’ names; 1,809 Americans have been recorded with it since 1946 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,610 Americans named Nilsa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (89% of everyone recorded); the median is 58 years old and half are between 46 and 66.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nilsa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Nilsa?
#16,596 among girls’ names, 2025
Nilsa entered the girls’ rankings after 2015 and stood at #16,596 in 2025.
76 babies in 1960, the peak
Nilsa peaked in 1960, when 76 girls were given it, #1,259 among girls’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 7% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #16,596 | 3.1 |
| 2024 | 8 | #11,864 | 4.9 |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,389 | 7.9 |
| 2021 | 6 | #14,764 | 3.7 |
| 2020 | 6 | #14,644 | 3.7 |
| 2019 | 9 | #11,132 | 5.4 |
| 2017 | 6 | #15,415 | 3.5 |
| 2014 | 5 | #18,489 | 2.8 |
| 2011 | 5 | #18,804 | 2.8 |
| 2008 | 8 | #13,467 | 4.2 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 7 | #14,099 | 3.8 |
| 2004 | 9 | #11,367 | 4.9 |
| 2003 | 9 | #11,076 | 4.9 |
| 2002 | 11 | #9,303 | 6.1 |
| 2001 | 8 | #11,763 | 4.4 |
| 2000 | 11 | #8,986 | 6.1 |
| 1999 | 7 | #12,295 | 3.9 |
| 1998 | 6 | #13,642 | 3.4 |
| 1996 | 13 | #7,019 | 7.4 |
| 1995 | 9 | #9,327 | 5.1 |
| 1994 | 13 | #6,955 | 7.3 |
| 1993 | 13 | #6,926 | 7.2 |
| 1992 | 12 | #7,380 | 6.5 |
| 1991 | 18 | #5,325 | 9.6 |
| 1990 | 12 | #7,168 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 14 | #6,050 | 7.6 |
| 1988 | 7 | #10,026 | 3.9 |
| 1987 | 20 | #4,227 | 11.5 |
| 1986 | 18 | #4,478 | 10.5 |
| 1985 | 15 | #5,016 | 8.7 |
| 1984 | 20 | #3,945 | 11.9 |
| 1983 | 22 | #3,638 | 13.2 |
| 1982 | 18 | #4,285 | 10.6 |
| 1981 | 22 | #3,701 | 13.2 |
| 1980 | 28 | #3,112 | 16.9 |
| 1979 | 32 | #2,777 | 19.9 |
| 1978 | 26 | #3,066 | 17.0 |
| 1977 | 36 | #2,450 | 23.5 |
| 1976 | 27 | #2,842 | 18.4 |
| 1975 | 28 | #2,727 | 19.2 |
| 1974 | 28 | #2,664 | 19.1 |
| 1973 | 35 | #2,257 | 24.0 |
| 1972 | 45 | #1,876 | 29.6 |
| 1971 | 48 | #1,848 | 28.8 |
| 1970 | 44 | #1,944 | 25.2 |
| 1969 | 56 | #1,604 | 33.2 |
| 1968 | 47 | #1,722 | 28.7 |
| 1967 | 60 | #1,436 | 36.3 |
| 1966 | 61 | #1,413 | 36.0 |
| 1965 | 56 | #1,493 | 31.7 |
| 1964 | 52 | #1,585 | 27.4 |
| 1963 | 66 | #1,368 | 34.2 |
| 1962 | 69 | #1,340 | 35.1 |
| 1961 | 63 | #1,414 | 31.2 |
| 1960 | 76 | #1,259 | 37.6 |
| 1959 | 70 | #1,285 | 34.6 |
| 1958 | 56 | #1,428 | 27.8 |
| 1957 | 62 | #1,352 | 30.3 |
| 1956 | 43 | #1,626 | 21.4 |
| 1955 | 39 | #1,658 | 19.9 |
| 1954 | 44 | #1,530 | 22.7 |
| 1953 | 43 | #1,499 | 22.9 |
| 1952 | 20 | #2,382 | 10.8 |
| 1951 | 25 | #2,005 | 13.9 |
| 1950 | 17 | #2,509 | 9.9 |
| 1949 | 11 | #3,335 | 6.4 |
| 1948 | 6 | #5,092 | 3.5 |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,486 | 3.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nilsa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nilsa has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 68 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nilsa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nilsa, and how old are they?
1,610 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 89% of the 1,809 Americans ever recorded as Nilsa. The median Nilsa alive today is 58 years old; half are between 46 and 66.
The 2020 Census counted 3,367 people named Nilsa (3,356 women and girls, 11 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,632 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.1 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
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 627 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 606 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 239 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 80 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 58 |
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 Nilsa born?
The states with the most babies named Nilsa are New York, New Jersey and Illinois, with 98% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 977 | not ranked | 6.6× |
| New Jersey | 88 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 56 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Connecticut | 5 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Florida | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Massachusetts | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Nilsa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nilsa is most over-represented in New York: since 1946 it was given 6.6 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 Nilsa 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 Nilsa
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 Nilsa and names like it
- Compare Nilsa and CindiBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sNilsa peaked in 1960.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nilsa since 1910.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Nilsa.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Nilsa alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with NMost given first.