Nina
Feminine
Nina is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 133,788 girls against 250 boys since 1880.
Nina is one of those short names that arrived in several languages at once and was welcomed in all of them — an Italian and Slavic pet form, a Spanish word for a little girl, the Russian form of the Georgian name Nino. Two open syllables, no silent letters, nothing to spell out over the phone. It has been on American records since record-keeping began and has never fallen off.
How old is the name Nina?
Nina was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Nina alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 90,000 people named Nina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nina most popular?
Nina peaked in 1887, reaching #114 nationally. Today it ranks #324, 210 places below that high. See the whole 1887 chart.
Nina appears on these lists:
- France's favorites still rare in America
- Scottish gems the US hasn't discovered
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- Under the radar: quietly excellent picks
- Names with only one spelling
- Slavic names with soft power
- all guides
Works in British and French families too:
Where it comes from
From Antonina to Nina
The story of Nina
The shortest path to Nina runs through Italy and the Slavic-speaking world, where long names were routinely trimmed from the end rather than the front: Antonina and Giovannina gave Nina, much as Alessandra gave Sandra. Spanish supplied a second, independent route through niña, the ordinary word for a girl child. A third comes from Georgia, whose fourth-century saint Nino is called Nina in Russian, which is part of why the name has been so heavily used across Russia and Eastern Europe. English-speaking families picked it up in the nineteenth century as a name in its own right, no longer attached to anything longer.
Meaningscholars disagree
Several roots: 'little girl' in Spanish, or a pet form of longer names ending in -nina
Three lines feed the same spelling. In Spanish, niña means 'little girl'. In Italian and the Slavic languages, Nina began as a clipping of longer names — Antonina, Giovannina, Yanina — where the final syllables were kept and the rest dropped. In Russian it is also the standard form of the Georgian name Nino, whose own meaning is not established. None of these cancels the others out; a given family may be drawing on any one of them.
How the name formed
- Antonina
- Nina
Related forms: Nina · Нина · ნინო (Nino) · Ninon · Ninette · Nina
Pronouncing Nina
NEE-nah
NEE-nah is standard in English and matches the Italian, Spanish, Slavic and Georgian pronunciations. A minority of English speakers, mostly of older generations, say NY-nah; if that is the version you want, expect to correct people.
Nicknames for Nina
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19811,701 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #114reached in 1887
- Change vs 2022
- −7.7%946 in 2025, from 1,025
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.
Nina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nina in Italian — same name
- Нина in Russian — transliteration
- ნინო (Nino) in Georgian — related form
- Ninon in French — related form
- Ninette in French — related form
- Nina in Polish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from INSEE, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Ninas among us
people named Nina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,699 born in 2025 was named Nina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Nina 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 Nina is headed
Nina 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.
Nina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds in English, and spelled the same way in Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian transliteration and German.
- Two syllables, four letters, no silent letters or double consonants to explain.
- Unbroken presence in American records since the earliest years of the national data, without a fashion spike attached to any one decade.
- Currently on the charts in France and Scotland as well as the US, so it travels without translation.
- Short already, which means no obligatory nickname — the full name works at every age.
- The NEE-nah and NY-nah split is real, if lopsided. Most people will say NEE-nah, but you will meet the other version occasionally, usually from older speakers.
- It sits in a crowded sound family — Mina, Gina, Tina, Lena, Nena — so it can be misheard over a phone or in a noisy room.
- In Spanish, niña is an everyday word for a girl child, not only a name. Among Spanish speakers that reads as familiar rather than odd, but it is worth knowing.
- Because it began as a clipping, there is no longer formal version behind it. If you want a stately full name on a diploma with Nina as the everyday form, you would have to build that yourself — Antonina and Giovanna are the historical candidates.
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What they receive
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Nina
Feminine · #324 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ninas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 90,000 people named Nina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nina in 2025?
- Nina ranks #324 among US girl names in 2025, with 946 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nina?
- About 1 in every 1,699 US girls born in 2025 was named Nina — 946 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nina with classmates?
- Nina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Serena#325 · Kali#323 · Marley#322 · Alessia#326 · Sabrina#321 · Navy#327 · Kendall#328 · Samara#320
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nina and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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