Nelida
Feminine
Nelida has an author, a year and a hidden word. It was invented in eighteen forty-six as the title of a novel, by a woman writing under a man's pen name, and the title is an anagram of that pen name. She had left her husband and children for a composer, the affair had ended badly, and the novel was about it.
How old is the name Nelida?
Nelida first appears in US birth records in 1933 — 92 years ago. The typical Nelida alive today was born around 1977, making them about 48 years old. About 1,400 people named Nelida are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nelida most popular?
Nelida peaked in 1964, reaching #1803 nationally. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From An anagram of a pen name, coined for an 1846 novel to Nelida
The story of Nelida
Marie d'Agoult left a count and two daughters to live with Franz Liszt, spent several years traveling with him and had three children, and came back to Paris to build a career as a writer and historian under the name Daniel Stern. The novel she published under that name has a heroine whose name is the pen name with its letters rearranged, and the plot follows a woman who leaves her marriage for an artist and discovers he is less interesting than his reputation. Liszt was not pleased. The book was widely read, the name escaped the book, and it took hold particularly in Spanish-speaking countries, where it is still in use by people who have never heard of the novel, the composer or the countess who assembled the letters.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is no meaning, because the word was constructed by rearranging the letters of another name rather than derived from any language. That is an unusually clean answer: not a name whose etymology has been lost but a name that never had one. Later attempts to connect it to Greek or Spanish words are reading a source into a word that was assembled.
How the name formed
- An anagram of a pen name, coined for an 1846 novel
- Escaping the book within a generation
- Taken up in Spanish-speaking countries
- Reaching American registers as an inherited-looking name
Related forms: Nelida · Nelide
Pronouncing Nelida
NEH-lee-dah
Three syllables with the stress on the first in Spanish, which usually writes it with an accent to say so. American speakers commonly put the stress in the middle instead, giving neh-LEE-duh, and both are heard.
Nicknames for Nelida
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
- 1933
- Most girls named
- 196940 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1803reached in 1964
- Change vs 2022
- +14.3%8 in 2024, from 7
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.
Nelida in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nelida in Spanish — same name
- Nelide in Italian — spelling variant
Nelidas among us
people named Nelida are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Nelida sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has a documented inventor, a documented year and a documented method, which almost no name has.
- It is in genuine use across the Spanish-speaking world rather than being an American formation.
- Nel and Lida are two very different short forms and both stand alone.
- There is no meaning, because the word was assembled rather than descended.
- The stress differs between the Spanish and the American reading.
- It will be written Nelinda or Nelida with an accent depending on who is typing.
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Nelida
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Nelidas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named Nelida are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nelida in 2025?
- Nelida is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Nelida with classmates?
- Nelida will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nancy#965 · Nicole#382 · Natalie#89 · Norma#2002 · Nora#20 · Naomi#47 · Nellie#533 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nelida? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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