Head to head · Girls' names
Briella vs Itzel
#362 vs #359 in 2025
Itzel is a whisker ahead (#359 vs #362 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Itzel is climbing the charts fast, Briella is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Itzel leads 5 measures of 6; Briella leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1970s: Briella —, Itzel #9652 — Itzel higher
- 1980s: Briella —, Itzel #5534 — Itzel higher
- 1990s: Briella #9269, Itzel #988 — Itzel higher
- 2000s: Briella #3806, Itzel #416 — Itzel higher
- 2010s: Briella #403, Itzel #468 — Briella higher
- 2020s: Briella #352, Itzel #455 — Briella higher
Itzel stood higher in 4 of 6 decades; Briella has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Briella | Itzel |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | — | #9652 |
| 1980s | — | #5534 |
| 1990s | #9269 | #988 |
| 2000s | #3806 | #416 |
| 2010s | #403 | #468 |
| 2020s | #352 | #455 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Briella
Not established
No meaning has been established for Briella. What is documented is its shape: the Bri- opening it shares with Brianna, Bria and Brielle, and the -ella ending it shares with Gabriella, Isabella and Arabella. Names in that family carry meanings of their own, but Briella has never been reliably traced to any one of them, so no translation can honestly be attached to it.
Our story of Briella — where the record runs out
Some names come down through manuscripts and kings; this one came together in American nurseries, within living memory. Both of its halves were already here and already loved — Bri from Brianna and Brielle, and the -ella ending that Ella, Isabella and Gabriella had made one of the most familiar sounds in the country.
Itzel
Linked to Ixchel, a Maya goddess; also read through Maya itz, 'dew, nectar, sap'
Two serious readings compete. The most common holds Itzel to be a modern form of Ixchel (Ix Chel), the Yucatec Maya goddess of the moon, medicine, weaving and childbirth. The other works from the Maya root itz, which covers dew, nectar, resin and sap — the fluid that seeps from a plant. Popular lists often print 'rainbow lady' as a flat translation; that gloss is not supported by the Maya language itself. An unsettled name is a fuller one here, not a broken one.
How it traveled
The name belongs to the Yucatec Maya linguistic world, and its most-cited source, Ixchel, is documented in Maya codices and in sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of the peninsula, where she appears as a goddess of childbirth and healing with a pilgrimage site on Cozumel. Itzel itself came into general use much later, in twentieth-century Mexico, during a broad turn toward Indigenous given names alongside Xóchitl, Citlali and Nayeli.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Briella
bree-EL-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. The spelling reads the way it sounds for English speakers, so mispronunciation is uncommon even on a first meeting.
- Bri — The most common short form; also used on its own as a given name, and shared with Brianna and Brielle.
- Ella — Taken from the second half; a long-established given name in its own right in English.
- Brie — Same sound as Bri, spelled the French way; also appears as Bree.
- Ellie — Informal, built from the ending; widely used among children today.
- Also Bella.
Itzel
eet-SEL
Spanish stress falls on the second syllable, and the tz is one quick ts sound, as in 'cats'. English speakers commonly say it-ZELL, which most families accept without correcting.
- Itzy — The most common informal short form in Spanish-speaking families; also written Itzi.
- Itze — Informal, used mainly within the family; rarely written on documents.
- Chelo — Used occasionally through the Ixchel connection; more common among older speakers and not attached to Itzel everywhere.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Briella if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBriella is stepping back from its peak
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Bri, Ella and Brie
Choose Itzel if you want…
- a name on the way upup 209 places on the charts in five years
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Briella
Strengths
- Two ready-made short forms, Bri and Ella, both of which already stand alone as given names.
- Reads the way it sounds in English, so it rarely needs to be pronounced twice.
- Sits inside a well-known family of names — Ella, Isabella, Gabriella — so it registers as familiar even to people meeting it for the first time.
To consider
- It lives close to several established names — Brielle, Bria, Brianna, Gabriella — and will sometimes be heard or written as one of them. Expect a certain amount of gentle correcting.
- There is no documented meaning to hand a curious child later on. If a settled origin story matters to you, this name cannot supply one honestly.
- The wave is very recent, so nearly everyone carrying it is still young. The name places a birth era fairly precisely, in the way that Linda or Ashley once did.
Itzel
Strengths
- Short, two syllables, and spelled exactly as it sounds in Spanish — no silent letters and no competing spellings in wide use.
- Works in both Spanish and English mouths without changing form, which matters in bilingual families.
- Rooted in a documented Maya naming tradition rather than invented recently, so it has real history behind it.
To consider
- English speakers who have not met the name usually guess it-ZELL rather than eet-SEL. Both are in use, so decide early which one your family will answer to, because the correction is a lifelong small task otherwise.
- The meaning is genuinely unsettled. If you want a name whose translation you can state in one line to relatives, this one will always come with a footnote — and the popular 'rainbow lady' gloss is not something the Maya language supports.
- Over the phone it is often heard as Itzayana, Ixchel or Isabel, and the tz can come back written as ts or z.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Briella and Itzel in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names ending in -ella / -elle
- Names ending in -la
- Names with a Z in them
- Spanish and Latin names with warmth
- all guides
Where Briella and Itzel each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Briella or Itzel — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Briella or Itzel?
- Itzel, in 2025: Itzel ranked #359 with 850 babies; Briella ranked #362 with 845 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Briella or Itzel?
- Itzel. Over the last five years Briella moved down 65 places; Itzel moved up 209 places.
- Which is the older name, Briella or Itzel?
- Briella entered the US charts in 1993; Itzel entered the US charts in 1977. On the American record, Itzel is the older name.
- How many people are named Briella and Itzel?
- About 15,000 people named Briella are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 21,000 people named Itzel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Briellas or Itzels in the classroom?
- Briella will almost certainly be the only one in school. Itzel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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