Nieves
Masculine · “snows”
Nieves is given to both — 595 boys and 986 girls since 1880. See Nieves as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Nieves means snows, in the plural, and it commemorates a snowfall in Rome in August. The story says the Virgin appeared to a couple and to the pope on the same night and told them to build a church where snow fell the next morning — and snow duly fell, on the Esquiline hill, in the hottest month of the year.
How old is the name Nieves?
Nieves first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Nieves alive today was born around 1951, making them about 74 years old. About 300 people named Nieves are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nieves most popular?
Nieves peaked in 1938, reaching #2084 nationally. See the whole 1938 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Roman basilica founded on the Esquiline to Nieves
The story of Nieves
The basilica built on the site is one of the four great churches of Rome, and every August the miracle is commemorated by dropping white petals through an opening in the ceiling during mass. The story appears in no source for a thousand years after the date it claims, which makes it a late legend rather than a record; the church itself is genuinely ancient. The petals are the best part: an entire congregation looking up at an artificial snowfall in the Roman summer.
Meaning
snows
The name is one of the Spanish Marian titles used as women's names — the same pattern that gives Dolores, Mercedes, Pilar and Rosario, all of which are plural or abstract nouns rather than names in any ordinary sense. A Spanish woman called Nieves is named for Our Lady of the Snows, and the plural is the point: it is a title, not a description.
How the name formed
- a Roman basilica founded on the Esquiline
- a legend of an August snowfall attaches to it
- Spanish Marian titles become women's names
- Nieves established across the Spanish-speaking world
- appears in American records in the 1900s
Related forms: Nieves · Neve · Neves
Pronouncing Nieves
nee-EH-vess
Two syllables in Spanish, with the ie running together. English speakers produce NEEVS or nee-EV-ess, and neither is quite it.
Nicknames for Nieves
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
- 1913
- Most boys named
- 192115 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2084reached in 1938
- Change vs 2002
- +40.0%7 in 2007, from 5
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.
Nieves in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nieves in Spanish — same name
- Neve in Italian — related form
- Neves in Portuguese — same name
Nievess among us
people named Nieves 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
Nieves 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 carries a specific and rather beautiful story rather than an abstract quality.
- It works for a child of either sex, and the record carries it on both sides.
- It is instantly recognizable across the Spanish-speaking world.
- The final s looks like a plural to English readers, and it is one.
- English speakers will not manage the Spanish diphthong.
- It is rare in America outside Spanish-speaking families.
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Nieves
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Nievess are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Nieves are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nieves in 2025?
- Nieves is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Nieves with classmates?
- Nieves will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nicholas#112 · Nathan#63 · Noah#2 · Nathaniel#140 · Norman#1196 · Nolan#65 · Neil#850 · Nicolas#177
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nieves? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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