Nadine
Feminine · “hope”
Nadine is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 53,381 girls against 43 boys since 1880.
Nadine is hope, by way of Russia and France. Nadezhda is the Russian word for hope used as a name, and French shortened it and added an ending.
How old is the name Nadine?
Nadine first appears in US birth records in 1887 — 138 years ago. The typical Nadine alive today was born around 1955, making them about 70 years old. About 33,500 people named Nadine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nadine most popular?
Nadine peaked in 1926, reaching #229 nationally. Today it ranks #1622, 1,393 places below that high. See the whole 1926 chart.
Nadine appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From nadezhda to Nadine
The story of Nadine
Russian naming took the three theological virtues as names — Vera, Nadezhda and Lyubov — and all three appear together in the calendar. Nadezhda's familiar form Nadya reached France as Nadia, and French built Nadine on it. The name spread through Europe and America in the twentieth century, and Nadine peaked in American records in the mid-1960s.
Meaning
hope
From the Russian nadezhda, 'hope', which Russian uses directly as a woman's name — one of a trio with Vera, 'faith', and Lyubov, 'love', after the three theological virtues. French shortened it to Nadia and formed Nadine with the -ine diminutive.
How the name formed
- nadezhda
- Nadezhda
- Nadia
- Nadine
Related forms: Nadine · Надежда · Nadine · Nadia
Pronouncing Nadine
nay-DEEN
Two syllables, stress on the second. French and German say na-DEEN with a fuller first vowel.
Nicknames for Nadine
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1887
- Most girls named
- 1960968 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #229reached in 1926
- Change vs 2022
- −13.5%128 in 2025, from 148
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Nadine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nadine in French — same name
- Надежда in Russian — related form
- Nadine in German — same name
- Nadia in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Nadines among us
people named Nadine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 12,557 born in 2025 was named Nadine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Letha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nadine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Letha climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Letha's path sketches the road Nadine is walking now.
Nadine sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Nadine is headed
Nadine should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Nadine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nadine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent, undisputed and about as good as a meaning gets.
- It belongs to a coherent Russian trio — faith, hope and love — which is a genuinely good thing to know.
- It is spelled identically in French and German.
- The English first vowel differs from the continental one.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Nadine
Feminine · #1622 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nadines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 33,500 people named Nadine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nadine in 2025?
- Nadine ranks #1622 among US girl names in 2025, with 128 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nadine?
- About 1 in every 12,557 US girls born in 2025 was named Nadine — 128 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nadine with classmates?
- Nadine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nadine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Yvette#1622 · Nell#1622 · Sianni#1622 · Isis#1622 · Eris#1622 · Cristina#1622 · Estela#1622 · Mazikeen#1622
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nadine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nadine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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