girl's name
Nayeli
nah-YEH-lee
- Origin Zapotec
- Gender Girl
- Letters 6
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 25,307
the United States
#270
2025 births
Nayeli is a girl's name used widely in Mexico and among Mexican-American families, usually given as Zapotec for "I love you". The Zapotec derivation is repeated everywhere but poorly documented, and the name may be a modern coinage rather than an inherited one.
- Nayeli is a name of Zapotec origin.
- Peaked in 2001, when 1,845 babies were given the name.
- Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 2,880 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1977.
Nayeli over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1970s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 12 |
| 1980s | 214 |
| 1990s | 2,018 |
| 2000s | 9,311 |
| 2010s | 7,566 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 5,544 |
What Nayeli means
Nayeli is nearly always translated as I love you, and sometimes as open or hill. The Zapotec attribution is widespread but rests on very little published evidence, so the meaning should be treated as claimed rather than confirmed.
Where Nayeli comes from
Nayeli is said to come from Zapotec, one of the indigenous languages of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, with the sense I love you. That attribution appears on essentially every name site, and yet no Zapotec dictionary entry is ever cited for it, and linguists working on the language have not confirmed the form. What is documented is the name's history in the records: it appears in our data from 1977 and rose sharply through the 1990s, a pattern that fits a modern name spreading by fashion rather than one carried down through generations.
Nayeli in use
Nayeli peaked in 2001 and charts in only four of the seven countries we track.
How popular is Nayeli?
In 2025, Nayeli was given to 1,151 babies in the United States, ranking #270 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Nayeli is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Nayeli is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Nayéli | Nayéli is a rare spelling of Nayeli, written with an acute accent and recorded about 65 times, mostly in France. | 65 |
Names that peaked alongside Nayeli
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Nayeli also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Nayeli over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Nayeli
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Nayeli in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Nayeli
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Nayeli — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Nayeli
What does the name Nayeli mean?
It is usually given as Zapotec for I love you, but that attribution is widely repeated and poorly documented.
Is Nayeli a Mexican name?
It is used widely in Mexico and among Mexican-American families. Whether it is genuinely Zapotec or a modern coinage is unresolved.
How do you pronounce Nayeli?
nah-YEH-lee, with the stress on the middle syllable.
How popular is the name Nayeli?
In 2025, Nayeli was given to 1,151 babies in the United States, ranking #270 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Nayeli a girl's or a boy's name?
Nayeli is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
When was Nayeli most popular?
Nayeli peaked in 2001, when 1,845 babies were given the name. Its usage has held steady over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Nayeli?
Nayeli is usually shortened to Naya and Yeli.
Is Nayeli a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Nayeli currently ranks #270 in the United States. Its usage has held steady over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.