Nettie
Short form of Annette, a French diminutive of Anne meaning "gracious" or "merciful".
Name Census estimates that about 6,382 living Americans carry the first name Nettie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Nettie today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nettie births was 1918 (1,172 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nettie. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Nettie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Nettie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 88 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Nettie is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Netties were born before 1964.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,706 Americans
Peak year
1918
1,172 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1939 SSA rank
#3,825
Tracked since 1880
Census
Nettie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,568 people with the first name Nettie, which placed it at #2,968 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
#2,968
National first-name rank
People counted
7.6K
7,568 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nettie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nettie is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (35.6%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Nettie 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 Nettie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.4% · 4,341
- Black or African American35.6% · 2,691
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 250
- Two or more races2.2% · 165
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 89
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 32
Gender
Gender distribution for Nettie
Out of the 49,507 babies given the name Nettie since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Nettie as a male name
- Ranked #3,825 in 1939
- 5 male births in 1939
- Peak: 1920 (9 births)
Nettie as a female name
- Ranked #6,827 in 2024
- 17 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (1,167 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nettie appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,566 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Nettie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nettie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 9,356 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nettie 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 Nettie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Netties live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Alabama, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Nettie, while Wyoming, Montana, Idaho recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 634 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nettie
The name Nettie originated as a diminutive or pet form of the English name Annette, which itself is derived from the French name Anette, a diminutive of Anne. Anne is the French form of the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning "grace" or "favor." The name Nettie emerged in the 19th century, particularly in England and the United States.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nettie can be found in the 1850 United States Federal Census, where a few individuals were listed with this name. By the late 19th century, Nettie had become a relatively popular name, particularly in the American South and Midwest.
One notable bearer of the name Nettie was Nettie Stevens (1861-1912), an American geneticist and pioneering researcher in the field of cytogenetics. She was the first person to describe the chromosomal basis of sex determination, a groundbreaking discovery in the early 20th century.
Another historical figure named Nettie was Nettie Fowler McCormick (1835-1923), an American philanthropist and women's rights activist. She was a prominent member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and worked tirelessly for the cause of women's suffrage.
In literature, Nettie is the name of a character in Alice Walker's novel "The Color Purple" (1982). Nettie is the younger sister of the protagonist, Celie, and her letters to Celie form a significant part of the novel's narrative.
Nettie Prentice Rosenstein (1854-1936) was an American social worker and advocate for women's rights, particularly in the field of labor laws. She played a crucial role in the establishment of the New York State Workmen's Compensation Law.
Nettie Maria Stevens (1869-1913) was an American educator and women's rights activist. She was a co-founder of the National Woman's Party and worked tirelessly for the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote in the United States.
While the name Nettie has declined in popularity in recent decades, it remains a charming and historically significant name with roots in the 19th century and connections to notable figures in various fields, including science, literature, and social activism.
People
Nettie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nettie 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
Nettie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nettie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,382 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nettie 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 53,706 US residents.
Is Nettie a common name?
We classify Nettie as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 49,507 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nettie most popular?
The single biggest year for Nettie was 1918, when 1,172 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nettie is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nettie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,568 people with the name Nettie, or 2.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,968 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 Nettie 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 Nettie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nettie appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,566 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Nettie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nettie is White at 57.4%. The next largest groups are Black (35.6%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Nettie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nettie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (4,341 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 Nettie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nettie a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Nettie 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 Nettie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nettie 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 Nettie 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 many people have Nettie as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Nettie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.