Nyree
Feminine
Nyree is given to both — 1,743 girls and 249 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
One actress made this name. Nyree Dawn Porter was a New Zealander whose name was a rendering of the Maori Ngaire; she played Irene in the 1967 Forsyte Saga, which was watched by enormous audiences on both sides of the Atlantic, and the name followed.
How old is the name Nyree?
Nyree first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Nyree alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 1,700 people named Nyree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nyree most popular?
Nyree peaked in 1973, reaching #833 nationally. Today it ranks #6546, 5,713 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ngaire to Nyree
The story of Nyree
Maori begins words with ng, a sound English only uses at the end of words like sing, and English speakers cannot easily produce it initially. Ngaire is a common New Zealand name, and Nyree is one of the anglicized spellings of it. The actress born Ngaire Porter used the second form professionally, and the 1967 BBC adaptation of The Forsyte Saga made her internationally known; it was one of the most-watched television series of its era and reached American audiences from 1969. The given name's American record follows: essentially nothing before, a rise through the early 1970s, and a best year of 1973.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Ngaire is a Maori name whose derivation is not settled; readings connecting it to a place name in Taranaki and to a word for flax are both offered without proof. Nyree is an English-language rendering of the sound, since the Maori initial ng is a sound English does not use at the start of a word. The English spelling therefore records an approximation.
How the name formed
- Ngaire
- Nyree
Related forms: Ngaire · Nyrie
Pronouncing Nyree
NY-ree
Two syllables with the stress on the first. The Maori Ngaire begins with the ng of sing, which English cannot place at the start of a word; Nyree is the approximation that results.
Nicknames for Nyree
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 1973157 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #833reached in 1973
- Change vs 2024
- +30.8%17 in 2025, from 13
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.
Nyree in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ngaire in Maori — related form
- Nyrie in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Nyrees among us
people named Nyree are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 94,545 born in 2025 was named Nyree
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 Larry test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nyree's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Larry climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Larry's path sketches the road Nyree is walking now.
Nyree 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
Nyree beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nyree in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuine Maori name behind it, with a documented and specific route into English.
- Two syllables, five letters, and no spelling difficulty.
- Genuinely rare while being entirely easy to say.
- The Maori original begins with a sound English cannot make initially.
- Nyree, Nyrie and Ngaire all circulate.
- It reads as a name of the early 1970s in American ears.
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What they receive
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Nyree
Feminine · #6546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nyrees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Nyree are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nyree in 2025?
- Nyree ranks #6546 among US girl names in 2025, with 17 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nyree?
- About 1 in every 94,545 US girls born in 2025 was named Nyree — 17 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nyree with classmates?
- Nyree will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nyree
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roseann#6546 · Solveig#6546 · Elona#6546 · Rosette#6546 · Bradie#6546 · Rida#6546 · Gwendalyn#6546 · Lorene#6546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nyree? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nyree and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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