Meaning of the nameNélio

Male
Latin origin
Né-li-o

Nélio is a male name, a shortened form of Cornélio, the Portuguese form of Latin Cornelius, a name of uncertain origin.

Meaning

The meaning of Nélio is not known for certain. No reliable source documents it, so we give none; below are the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

People (2022): 9,762
Rank in Brazil: #1,750
Median age: 46 years
2010 Census: 11,427; people

Nélio in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Nélio, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1970s (2,753 people).

35 women 9,727 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Nélio is most common

States with the highest share of people named Nélio in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Rio de Janeiro 0.009%
Minas Gerais 0.009%
Goiás 0.008%
Tocantins 0.008%
Espírito Santo 0.007%

All states

State	People	% of population
Minas Gerais	1,883	0.009%
Rio de Janeiro	1,495	0.009%
São Paulo	1,258	0.003%
Bahia	610	0.004%
Rio Grande do Sul	572	0.005%
Goiás	561	0.008%
Pará	488	0.006%
Maranhão	433	0.006%
Paraná	375	0.003%
Santa Catarina	284	0.004%
Espírito Santo	264	0.007%
Amazonas	237	0.006%
Mato Grosso	204	0.006%
Distrito Federal	137	0.005%
Pernambuco	131	0.001%
Mato Grosso do Sul	125	0.005%
Tocantins	115	0.008%
Ceará	110	0.001%
Rondônia	99	0.006%
Piauí	89	0.003%
Rio Grande do Norte	66	0.002%
Paraíba	49	0.001%
Roraima	41	0.006%
Amapá	40	0.006%
Alagoas	37	0.001%
Sergipe	34	0.002%
Acre	25	0.003%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Nélio

According to Behind the Name, Nélio is a shortened form of Cornélio, the Portuguese form of Latin Cornelius. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil (Dictionary of Names in Use in Brazil), citing Machado (1981), says that Cornélio comes from Latin Cornelius, at first a Roman family name. Behind the Name says that Cornelius perhaps comes from Latin cornu, 'horn', but the derivation is uncertain, and the meaning of Nélio is also uncertain. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 9,762 people named Nélio, with a median age of 46. The name is almost always male, with a peak among people born in the 1970s.

Sources

Behind the Name: Nélio · behindthename.com · origin
Behind the Name: Cornelius · behindthename.com · origin
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Cornélio · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · origin

Questions about the name Nélio

What does the name Nélio mean?

The meaning of Nélio is not known for certain: no reliable source documents it. So we give no meaning; the page shows the origin of the spelling and the official figures.

How many people are named Nélio in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 9,762 people with the first name Nélio, which ranks it number 1,750 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1970s.

Is Nélio a boy's or a girl's name?

Nélio is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 35 women and 9,727 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Nélio?

Nélio is a name of Latin origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Nélio most common?

Proportionally, in Rio de Janeiro: 0.009% of the state's population is named Nélio (1,495 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of Latin origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Nélio with a source. See the methodology.