diff --git a/pandas/io/json/_normalize.py b/pandas/io/json/_normalize.py
index 45c8876dbe3e5..6cfc7cdb5ed5e 100644
--- a/pandas/io/json/_normalize.py
+++ b/pandas/io/json/_normalize.py
@@ -6,13 +6,7 @@
     abc,
     defaultdict,
 )
-import copy
-from typing import (
-    TYPE_CHECKING,
-    Any,
-    DefaultDict,
-    overload,
-)
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any, DefaultDict
 
 import numpy as np
 
@@ -46,24 +40,166 @@ def convert_to_line_delimits(s: str) -> str:
     return convert_json_to_lines(s)
 
 
-@overload
 def nested_to_record(
     ds: dict,
     prefix: str = ...,
     sep: str = ...,
     level: int = ...,
     max_level: int | None = ...,
-) -> dict[str, Any]: ...
+) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """
+    A simplified json_normalize
+
+    Converts a nested dict into a flat dict ("record"), unlike json_normalize,
+    it does not attempt to extract a subset of the data.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    ds : dict or list of dicts
+    prefix: the prefix, optional, default: ""
+    sep : str, default '.'
+        Nested records will generate names separated by sep,
+        e.g., for sep='.', { 'foo' : { 'bar' : 0 } } -> foo.bar
+    level: int, optional, default: 0
+        The number of levels in the json string.
+
+    max_level: int, optional, default: None
+        The max depth to normalize.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    d - dict or list of dicts, matching `ds`
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> nested_to_record(
+    ...     dict(flat1=1, dict1=dict(c=1, d=2), nested=dict(e=dict(c=1, d=2), d=2))
+    ... )
+    {\
+'flat1': 1, \
+'dict1.c': 1, \
+'dict1.d': 2, \
+'nested.e.c': 1, \
+'nested.e.d': 2, \
+'nested.d': 2\
+}
+    """
+    singleton = False
+    if isinstance(ds, dict):
+        ds = [ds]
+        singleton = True
+    new_ds = []
+    for d in ds:
+        new_d = dict(d)
+        for k, v in d.items():
+            # each key gets renamed with prefix
+            if not isinstance(k, str):
+                k = str(k)
+            if level == 0:
+                newkey = k
+            else:
+                newkey = prefix + sep + k
+
+            # flatten if type is dict and
+            # current dict level  < maximum level provided and
+            # only dicts gets recurse-flattened
+            # only at level>1 do we rename the rest of the keys
+            if not isinstance(v, dict) or (
+                max_level is not None and level >= max_level
+            ):
+                if level != 0:  # so we skip copying for top level, common case
+                    v = new_d.pop(k)
+                    new_d[newkey] = v
+                continue
+
+            v = new_d.pop(k)
+            new_d.update(nested_to_record(v, newkey, sep, level + 1, max_level))
+        new_ds.append(new_d)
+
+    if singleton:
+        return new_ds[0]
+    return new_ds
 
 
-@overload
 def nested_to_record(
     ds: list[dict],
     prefix: str = ...,
     sep: str = ...,
     level: int = ...,
     max_level: int | None = ...,
-) -> list[dict[str, Any]]: ...
+) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
+    """
+    A simplified json_normalize
+
+    Converts a nested dict into a flat dict ("record"), unlike json_normalize,
+    it does not attempt to extract a subset of the data.
+
+    Parameters
+    ----------
+    ds : dict or list of dicts
+    prefix: the prefix, optional, default: ""
+    sep : str, default '.'
+        Nested records will generate names separated by sep,
+        e.g., for sep='.', { 'foo' : { 'bar' : 0 } } -> foo.bar
+    level: int, optional, default: 0
+        The number of levels in the json string.
+
+    max_level: int, optional, default: None
+        The max depth to normalize.
+
+    Returns
+    -------
+    d - dict or list of dicts, matching `ds`
+
+    Examples
+    --------
+    >>> nested_to_record(
+    ...     dict(flat1=1, dict1=dict(c=1, d=2), nested=dict(e=dict(c=1, d=2), d=2))
+    ... )
+    {\
+'flat1': 1, \
+'dict1.c': 1, \
+'dict1.d': 2, \
+'nested.e.c': 1, \
+'nested.e.d': 2, \
+'nested.d': 2\
+}
+    """
+    singleton = False
+    if isinstance(ds, dict):
+        ds = [ds]
+        singleton = True
+    new_ds = []
+    for d in ds:
+        new_d = dict(d)
+        for k, v in d.items():
+            # each key gets renamed with prefix
+            if not isinstance(k, str):
+                k = str(k)
+            if level == 0:
+                newkey = k
+            else:
+                newkey = prefix + sep + k
+
+            # flatten if type is dict and
+            # current dict level  < maximum level provided and
+            # only dicts gets recurse-flattened
+            # only at level>1 do we rename the rest of the keys
+            if not isinstance(v, dict) or (
+                max_level is not None and level >= max_level
+            ):
+                if level != 0:  # so we skip copying for top level, common case
+                    v = new_d.pop(k)
+                    new_d[newkey] = v
+                continue
+
+            v = new_d.pop(k)
+            new_d.update(nested_to_record(v, newkey, sep, level + 1, max_level))
+        new_ds.append(new_d)
+
+    if singleton:
+        return new_ds[0]
+    return new_ds
 
 
 def nested_to_record(
@@ -116,7 +252,7 @@ def nested_to_record(
         singleton = True
     new_ds = []
     for d in ds:
-        new_d = copy.deepcopy(d)
+        new_d = dict(d)
         for k, v in d.items():
             # each key gets renamed with prefix
             if not isinstance(k, str):