Head to head · Girls' names
Scarlett vs Stella
#32 vs #52 in 2025 · Old French vs Latin roots · both stepping back from its peak
Scarlett is a whisker ahead (#32 vs #52 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Scarlett leads 3 measures of 6; Stella 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: Scarlett —, Stella #60 — Stella higher
- 1890s: Scarlett —, Stella #61 — Stella higher
- 1900s: Scarlett —, Stella #67 — Stella higher
- 1910s: Scarlett —, Stella #68 — Stella higher
- 1920s: Scarlett —, Stella #108 — Stella higher
- 1930s: Scarlett #3570, Stella #172 — Stella higher
- 1940s: Scarlett #1120, Stella #197 — Stella higher
- 1950s: Scarlett #1395, Stella #296 — Stella higher
- 1960s: Scarlett #1095, Stella #438 — Stella higher
- 1970s: Scarlett #1264, Stella #640 — Stella higher
- 1980s: Scarlett #1180, Stella #882 — Stella higher
- 1990s: Scarlett #898, Stella #1082 — Scarlett higher
- 2000s: Scarlett #529, Stella #347 — Stella higher
- 2010s: Scarlett #43, Stella #57 — Scarlett higher
- 2020s: Scarlett #22, Stella #45 — Scarlett higher
Stella stood higher in 12 of 15 decades; Scarlett has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Scarlett | Stella |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | — | #60 |
| 1890s | — | #61 |
| 1900s | — | #67 |
| 1910s | — | #68 |
| 1920s | — | #108 |
| 1930s | #3570 | #172 |
| 1940s | #1120 | #197 |
| 1950s | #1395 | #296 |
| 1960s | #1095 | #438 |
| 1970s | #1264 | #640 |
| 1980s | #1180 | #882 |
| 1990s | #898 | #1082 |
| 2000s | #529 | #347 |
| 2010s | #43 | #57 |
| 2020s | #22 | #45 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Scarlett
- Canada#41
- England & Wales#79
Stella
- Canada#58
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Scarlett
From scarlet — the cloth, and later the color; originally an occupational surname for a dyer or seller of scarlet cloth
The English surname comes through Old French escarlate, a word for a costly cloth. Only later did scarlet come to name the red itself, which is why the name reads today as a color word rather than a trade.
escarlate (Old French, a fine cloth) → scarlat (Middle English) → Scarlett (English surname) → Scarlett (given name)
How it traveled
The word traveled west into Old French as escarlate and into Middle English as scarlat, naming an expensive imported fabric. From it came the English surname Scarlett, attested for centuries in records before anyone thought to put it in front of a family name.
Stella
Star (Latin)
Stella is simply the Latin noun for a star, used unchanged as a given name.
stella (Latin, 'star') → Stella Maris (medieval Marian title) → Stella (Italian and Spanish given name) → Stella (English, from Sidney's sonnets)
How it traveled
The word came first: stella, star, in ordinary Latin. Medieval Christian hymnody turned it into a title for the Virgin Mary — Stella Maris, star of the sea, sung in the hymn Ave Maris Stella — and Italian and Spanish speakers kept it as a personal name.
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
Scarlett
SKAR-lit
Stress on the first syllable. The second is said either -lit or -let depending on accent, and both pass without comment. English speakers read it correctly on sight because it is also an everyday word.
- Lettie — Taken from the final syllable; informal, and also stands alone as an older given name in its own right.
- Letty — Same short form, spelled the shorter way; informal home and family use.
- Scarlie — Affectionate family clipping, mostly used with young children.
- Scar — The blunt playground shortening; some families head it off early, others never hear it at all.
Stella
STEL-uh
Stress on the first syllable. English, Italian and Spanish speakers all land on much the same sound, and it survives dictation over the phone without a spelling.
- Stell — The oldest and plainest clipping, used at home rather than on paper.
- Stellie — Affectionate form, most often heard in the early years.
- Ella — Taken from the tail of the name; also a fully established given name in its own right.
- Stevie — An occasional playful stretch rather than a standard short form.
Who has carried each name
Scarlett
Scarlett Johansson (b. 1984) — Marvel's Black Widow, once the world's highest-paid actress
Stella
Stella McCartney (b. 1971) — Sustainable-fashion designer, Paul McCartney's daughter
Stella Adler (b. 1901) — Legendary acting teacher who trained Marlon Brando
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 Scarlett if you want…
- a name most people already know#32 in 2025, 5,644 babies that year
- a name that charts abroad tooScarlett is on the national lists of Canada and England & Wales
- a newer arrivalScarlett entered the US charts in 1937
- a name that feels very nowScarlett is stepping back from its peak
Choose Stella if you want…
- a name fewer children share#52 in 2025 — stella will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a long American recordStella was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 82% for Scarlett
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
Scarlett
Strengths
- Pronounced correctly on sight by any English speaker — it is a word people already know how to say.
- A documented surname in England for centuries before it became a first name, so the record behind it is long and real.
- In steady use across the United States, Canada and Britain, with the same spelling and sound in all three.
To consider
- The color word takes one t; the name usually takes two. Expect a lifetime of gently correcting Scarlet to Scarlett.
- The name arrived in English through one famous novel about the antebellum South, a book now widely criticized for how it portrays slavery. Some parents mind that link; many no longer think of it.
- Scar is the obvious clipping, and children find it fast. Worth knowing in advance rather than being surprised by it.
Stella
Strengths
- Four letters longer than it looks: spelled exactly as it sounds, with no variant spellings competing for it.
- The meaning is transparent to anyone who has met a Latin root — no explanation required.
- Recognized across Italian, Spanish, Polish and English, and it charts in Canada as well as the US.
To consider
- A great many people will hear Stanley Kowalski bellowing it in A Streetcar Named Desire. It is the single loudest association the name carries, and it is not going anywhere.
- Stella Artois means the name gets a beer joke now and then, mostly from adults.
- It sits in a large family of -ella and -a endings currently in wide use, so it can blend with Ella, Bella and Luna in a roll call.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Scarlett
82%chance Scarlett feels dated by 2040
Scarlett is coming down from a big peak (#14 in 2022). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Stella
12%chance Stella feels dated by 2040
Stella has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
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 Scarlett and Stella 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 Scarlett and Stella?
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.
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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
- America's top 100 names right now
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- all guides
Every list here names both Scarlett and Stella — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Scarlett or Stella — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Scarlett or Stella?
- Scarlett, in 2025: Scarlett ranked #32 with 5,644 babies; Stella ranked #52 with 4,136 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Scarlett or Stella?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Scarlett moved down 11 places; Stella moved down 10 places.
- Which is the older name, Scarlett or Stella?
- Scarlett entered the US charts in 1937; Stella was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Stella is the older name.
- How many people are named Scarlett and Stella?
- About 111,000 people named Scarlett are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 111,000 people named Stella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Scarletts or Stellas in the classroom?
- Scarlett will almost certainly be the only one in school. Stella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
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 Scarlett, Stella and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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