Nannie
A diminutive of Ann or Anne, derived from the Hebrew name Hannah meaning "grace".
Name Census estimates that about 2,009 living Americans carry the first name Nannie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nannie today is around 82 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nannie births was 1920 (655 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nannie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Nannie is about 82 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Nannies were born before 1954.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 170,609 Americans
Peak year
1920
655 babies that year
Average age
82
years old
1925 SSA rank
#4,697
Tracked since 1880
Census
Nannie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,451 people with the first name Nannie, which placed it at #6,519 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,519
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,451 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nannie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nannie is White at 52.5%. The next largest groups are Black (42.8%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Nannie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Nannie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.5% · 1,286
- Black or African American42.8% · 1,050
- Two or more races2.2% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Nannie
Out of the 25,580 babies given the name Nannie since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Nannie as a male name
- Ranked #4,697 in 1925
- 5 male births in 1925
- Peak: 1915 (5 births)
Nannie as a female name
- Ranked #12,585 in 1991
- 6 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1920 (655 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nannie appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,449 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Nannie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nannie from the 1880s through to the 1990s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 5,253 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nannie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Nannie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nannies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Nannie, while Indiana, Florida, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 709 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nannie
Nannie is a feminine given name derived from the Hebrew name Hannah, which means "grace" or "favor." The name Nannie has its roots in the ancient Middle Eastern region and can be traced back to biblical times.
In the Old Testament, Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel and is revered as a woman of great faith and devotion. Her name became popular among early Christians, who adopted it as a symbol of motherhood and piety.
The name Nannie emerged as a diminutive or pet form of the name Hannah, particularly in English-speaking countries. It gained popularity during the Middle Ages and was commonly used as a familiar or affectionate form of address for older women or grandmothers.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nannie can be found in the writings of the 16th-century English poet and playwright William Shakespeare. In his play "The Merry Wives of Windsor," a character named Mistress Quickly is referred to as "Nannie" by her acquaintances.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Nannie. One such figure was Nannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961), an influential African American educator, orator, and activist. She founded the National Trade and Professional School for Women and Girls in Washington, D.C., and played a pivotal role in the struggle for civil rights and women's empowerment.
Another prominent Nannie was Nannie Doss (1905-1965), an American serial killer known as the "Lonesome Widow" or the "Giggling Granny." She confessed to killing four of her five husbands, as well as her mother, a grandson, and a mother-in-law, earning her a place in infamy as one of the most prolific female serial killers in United States history.
In the realm of literature, Nannie Haskins (1865-1957) was an American poet and author best known for her poem "The Untrodden Way," which celebrates the courage to forge one's own path in life.
Additionally, Nannie Maude McKinney (1862-1934) was an American educator and activist who played a significant role in promoting education for African American children in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
While the name Nannie may have fallen out of favor in more recent times, its rich history and associations with strength, resilience, and maternal love have left an indelible mark on the tapestry of human experience.
People
Nannie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nannie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nannie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nannie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,009 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nannie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 170,609 US residents.
Is Nannie a common name?
We classify Nannie as "Rare". It ranks above 93.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 25,580 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nannie most popular?
The single biggest year for Nannie was 1920, when 655 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nannie is about 82 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nannie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,451 people with the name Nannie, or 0.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,519 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Nannie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Nannie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nannie appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,449 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Nannie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nannie is White at 52.5%. The next largest groups are Black (42.8%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Nannie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nannie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.5% (1,286 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Nannie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nannie a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Nannie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Nannie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nannie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Nannie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Nannie?
See how many Americans are named Nannie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.