Nevada
Masculine · “snow-covered”
Nevada is given to both — 723 boys and 3,190 girls since 1880. See Nevada as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Nevada is named after mountains that are mostly in California. The Sierra Nevada, the snow-covered range the Spanish named, runs along the eastern edge of California and barely enters the state that took its name, so the state is named for somebody else's mountains.
How old is the name Nevada?
Nevada first appears in US birth records in 1953 — 72 years ago. The typical Nevada alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 700 people named Nevada are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nevada most popular?
Nevada peaked in 1983, reaching #2493 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 3,953 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From nevar to Nevada
The story of Nevada
Spanish colonial naming used plain descriptive words for landscape, and Sierra Nevada was applied to more than one range, including the original in Andalusia. The California range took the name in the eighteenth century, and when the territory east of it was organized in 1861 it borrowed the second word alone. Place names became American given names in a steady stream through the twentieth century, and the western states did particularly well, giving Dakota, Montana, Cheyenne and Nevada. Nevada's best year on the male side is 1983, and it is used for both sexes, more often for girls.
Meaning
snow-covered, snowy
Spanish nevada, the feminine past participle of nevar, to snow, from Latin nivis, snow. Sierra Nevada therefore means snowy range, and the name was applied by Spanish explorers to the mountains they could see capped with snow. The state took the shortened form when it was organized as a territory in 1861.
How the name formed
- nevar
- nevada
- Sierra Nevada
- Nevada
Related forms: Nevada · Nevata
Pronouncing Nevada
nuh-VAD-uh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle and a flat a, which is the American state pronunciation. Spanish says neh-VAH-dah with an open a, and locals in the state are firm about the difference.
Nicknames for Nevada
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
- 1953
- Most boys named
- 199530 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2493reached in 1983
- Change vs 2024
- +18.2%13 in 2025, from 11
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.
Nevada in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nevada in Spanish — same name
- Nevata in Italian — related form
Nevadas among us
people named Nevada are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Nevada
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 Otilio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nevada's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Otilio climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Otilio's path sketches the road Nevada is walking now.
Nevada 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
Nevada beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nevada in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Spanish meaning that is a single plain word.
- Vada and Nev are two short forms that sound nothing alike.
- Instantly familiar to every American without being common as a name.
- It is used more often for girls than for boys in the United States.
- The state association is strong and carries its own set of images.
- Two pronunciations compete, the American and the Spanish, and locals mind.
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What they receive
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Nevada
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nevadas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Nevada are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nevada in 2025?
- Nevada ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nevada?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Nevada — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nevada with classmates?
- Nevada will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nevada
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nevada? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nevada and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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