Nidia
Feminine
Nydia was invented for a novel about the destruction of Pompeii, published in 1834. The character is a blind flower-seller, and the name has outlived the book by two centuries and settled on a continent the author never wrote about.
How old is the name Nidia?
Nidia first appears in US birth records in 1943 — 82 years ago. The typical Nidia alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 2,600 people named Nidia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nidia most popular?
Nidia peaked in 1976, reaching #1619 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 8,488 places below that high. See the whole 1976 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Nydia to Nidia
The story of Nidia
The Last Days of Pompeii was one of the most widely read novels of the nineteenth century, adapted for the stage repeatedly and filmed several times. Its blind slave girl Nydia became a set piece of Victorian visual culture: Randolph Rogers's marble statue of her, made in 1855, was so popular that his studio produced more than a hundred copies for American buyers. The name entered use in English first, then spread through Spanish-speaking countries, where it settled far more thoroughly than in English and where the spelling Nidia became standard. Its American peak in 1976 is largely Puerto Rican, Cuban and Dominican rather than Anglo. A name invented by an English novelist in London for a Roman character became, a century and a half later, an ordinary Caribbean Spanish name.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Nidia and Nydia come from Edward Bulwer-Lytton's The Last Days of Pompeii, 1834. The gloss from Latin nidus, a nest, is a later rationalisation of the spelling rather than the author's derivation, and no source before the novel is documented. The American peak is 1976.
How the name formed
- Nydia
- Nidia
Related forms: Nidia · Nydia · Nidia
Pronouncing Nidia
NEE-dee-ah
Three syllables, stress on the first, in Spanish. English speakers often say NID-ee-uh with a short first vowel. The Nydia spelling attracts the English reading.
Nicknames for Nidia
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
- 1943
- Most girls named
- 199292 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1619reached in 1976
- Change vs 2023
- −35.7%9 in 2025, from 14
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.
Nidia in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nidia in Spanish — same name
- Nydia in English — spelling variant
- Nidia in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Nidias among us
people named Nidia are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Nidia
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 Rosaleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nidia's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rosaleen climbed just as high around 1927, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rosaleen's path sketches the road Nidia is walking now.
Nidia 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
Nidia beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nidia in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three syllables with a clear opening stress and an open ending.
- It is established across Spanish-speaking countries as an everyday name.
- The literary origin is precisely documented, down to the year.
- English and Spanish read the first vowel differently.
- The nest meaning circulated widely and is not supportable.
- Nydia and Nidia will both be written.
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What they receive
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Nidia
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nidias are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,600 people named Nidia are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nidia in 2025?
- Nidia ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nidia?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Nidia — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nidia with classmates?
- Nidia will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nidia
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nidia? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nidia and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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