Girls' name · peaked in 1881

Nettie name popularity since 1925

17,515 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Nettie. Half of them were born in 1938 or earlier, so the typical Nettie is about 88 years old in 2026. Nettie peaked in 1881 as the #62 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 17,515; Named Nettie, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1881; #62 for girls that year
Typical age: About 88; Median birth year 1938
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #5,663 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.8% girls; 17,476 girls · 39 boys
Most popular in: Mississippi; 5.74× its national share

Peak year is the year Nettie made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Nettie births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year on this chart was 1925. Measured as a share of all babies, Nettie peaked earlier, in 1881.

Steepest fall: Between 1946 and 1951, Nettie's share of baby girls fell by 43%, from 1 in 4,210 to 1 in 7,350.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Nettie's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Nettie.

Decade by decade

Babies named Nettie in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	3,888	29	–
1930s	5,461	10	#259
1940s	3,729	0	#401
1950s	2,185	0	#650
1960s	908	0	#1,223
1970s	418	0	#1,685
1980s	295	0	#3,946
1990s	210	0	#4,313
2000s	138	0	#9,291
2010s	136	0	#11,592
2020–25	108	0	#5,663

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

52.9% of babies named Nettie from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Silent Generation years (1928–1945). The full split by generation:

Where Nettie is most popular

The index compares Nettie's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Nettie.

State	Index	Babies
Mississippi	5.74×	1,025
Alabama	5.50×	1,434
South Carolina	4.20×	866
Arkansas	4.02×	609
Louisiana	3.30×	873

Names with a similar story

Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Nettie's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Nettie.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Nettie (1881).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data