Head to head · Girls' names
Ella vs Ellie
#29 vs #24 in 2025
Ellie is a whisker ahead (#24 vs #29 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Ellie is climbing the charts fast, Ella 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, Ellie leads 3 measures of 6; Ella leads 2.
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
- 1880s: Ella #17, Ellie #366 — Ella higher
- 1890s: Ella #32, Ellie #415 — Ella higher
- 1900s: Ella #50, Ellie #466 — Ella higher
- 1910s: Ella #75, Ellie #667 — Ella higher
- 1920s: Ella #95, Ellie #849 — Ella higher
- 1930s: Ella #121, Ellie #1073 — Ella higher
- 1940s: Ella #162, Ellie #1333 — Ella higher
- 1950s: Ella #255, Ellie #1370 — Ella higher
- 1960s: Ella #435, Ellie #1525 — Ella higher
- 1970s: Ella #743, Ellie #1747 — Ella higher
- 1980s: Ella #985, Ellie #1639 — Ella higher
- 1990s: Ella #659, Ellie #716 — Ella higher
- 2000s: Ella #72, Ellie #212 — Ella higher
- 2010s: Ella #15, Ellie #62 — Ella higher
- 2020s: Ella #25, Ellie #27 — Ella higher
Ella stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Ella | Ellie |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #17 | #366 |
| 1890s | #32 | #415 |
| 1900s | #50 | #466 |
| 1910s | #75 | #667 |
| 1920s | #95 | #849 |
| 1930s | #121 | #1073 |
| 1940s | #162 | #1333 |
| 1950s | #255 | #1370 |
| 1960s | #435 | #1525 |
| 1970s | #743 | #1747 |
| 1980s | #985 | #1639 |
| 1990s | #659 | #716 |
| 2000s | #72 | #212 |
| 2010s | #15 | #62 |
| 2020s | #25 | #27 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Ella
- Scotland#14
- Canada#26
- England & Wales#39
- France#65
Ellie
- Canada#18
- Scotland#48
- France#83
- England & Wales#88
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Ella
All, complete — or simply the end of a longer name
Two accounts compete. One takes it from a Germanic name brought to England by the Normans, built on a word meaning all or complete. The other treats it as the tail end of names like Isabella and Gabriella, cut loose and used alone — which certainly happened, whatever the older history. Both are true of different bearers.
Alia → Ella
How it traveled
One Ella won an amateur night at a Harlem theater she had entered as a dancer — lost her nerve when she saw the act before her, sang instead, and was still singing sixty years later, with a range and an ear that other musicians describe in terms usually reserved for instruments. The other never performed at all.
Ellie
Not established
It depends on which full name is behind it, and increasingly there is none. Eleanor's own origin has never been settled; Elizabeth is a Hebrew sentence about an oath; Ella is Germanic and means something like other or all. A pet form drops exactly the material that would tell you which, and a pet form used alone has no meaning at all.
Eleanor → Ellie
How it traveled
That reversal is one of the largest quiet changes in English-speaking naming. For most of recorded history a pet form was something a child was called and a full name was what went on the certificate, and the two were not confused; over the last fifty years the pet form has increasingly become the registered name, so that the records now hold hundreds of thousands of children with no formal version to grow into.
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
Ella
EL-uh
Two syllables, stress at the front. Said the same way in every language that uses it.
- Ellie — The name softened, which for many bearers becomes the everyday form.
- El — The single syllable, plain and quick.
Ellie
EL-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The doubled l keeps the vowel short, which is doing real work: a single l would leave it long and produce a different name.
- Elle — The name with its ending removed; a complete given name in its own right and French in flavor.
- El — One closed syllable; unisex, short and completely modern.
- Lellie — A nursery reduplication; affectionate and family-only.
One short form, two names
- Ella shortens to Ellie, which is also on this list.
- Ella and Ellie both shorten to El.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Who has carried each name
Ella
Ella Fitzgerald (b. 1917) — The "First Lady of Song" with 13 Grammys
Ella Baker (b. 1903) — Master strategist of the civil rights movement
Ella Purnell (b. 1996) — Star of Fallout and Yellowjackets
Ellie
Ellie Goulding (b. 1986) — "Lights" and "Love Me Like You Do" hitmaker
Ellie Kemper (b. 1980) — Star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and The Office
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Ella if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsElla is stepping back from its peak
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 59% for Ellie
Choose Ellie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 5 places on the charts in five years
- a name that feels very nowEllie is climbing the charts fast
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
Ella
Strengths
- It is short, soft and easy for a small child to say about herself.
- It is spelled identically across most of Europe and read correctly everywhere.
- It sits inside several longer names, so a child can grow into a formal version if she wants one.
To consider
- It is currently very well used, so she is unlikely to be the only one.
- Ella, Ellie and Bella are close enough to be swapped constantly in a classroom.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
Ellie
Strengths
- Short, warm and among the easiest names in English for a small child to say.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Several long formal names sit behind it if a family wants one on the certificate.
To consider
- It is a pet form used as a full name, which leaves nothing more formal underneath.
- It is currently extremely popular, which means a classroom is likely to hold more than one.
- Elly, Elli and Ellee all exist for the same sound.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Ella
12%chance Ella feels dated by 2040
Ella has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Ellie
59%chance Ellie feels dated by 2040
Ellie is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Ella and Ellie in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Ella and Ellie?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap
More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- all guides
Every list here names both Ella and Ellie — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Ella or Ellie — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Ella or Ellie?
- Ellie, in 2025: Ellie ranked #24 with 6,176 babies; Ella ranked #29 with 5,831 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Ella or Ellie?
- Ellie. Over the last five years Ella moved down 14 places; Ellie moved up 5 places.
- Which is the older name, Ella or Ellie?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Ella and Ellie?
- About 227,000 people named Ella are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 102,000 people named Ellie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Ella and Ellie share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Ellie and El, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Ella, Ellie and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
Free to start · no account needed · everyone you invite votes in one tap