Adelita
Feminine · “little Adela”
Adelita is Adela with a Spanish diminutive, and it is also a song. The corrido of the Adelita came out of the Mexican Revolution and gave the country a word for the women who marched, cooked, nursed and fought with the armies, so a name that began as an affectionate ending ended up naming a whole generation of them.
How old is the name Adelita?
Adelita first appears in US birth records in 1924 — 101 years ago. The typical Adelita alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 1,700 people named Adelita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Adelita most popular?
Adelita peaked in 1950, reaching #1626 nationally. Today it ranks #4758, 3,132 places below that high. See the whole 1950 chart.
Where it comes from
From adal to Adelita
The story of Adelita
Germanic names in adal- entered Spain with the Visigoths and stayed, and Adela was ordinary in Spanish long before the twentieth century. The diminutive Adelita was the everyday form. Then came the corrido, sung across Mexico during and after the Revolution, and the word adelita became a common noun for the soldaderas who traveled with the armies; the song is still known by almost everyone in the country. The name was widely given in Mexico and the American Southwest in the decades that followed, carrying both the affection and the history.
Meaning
little Adela; noble
Spanish -ita is a diminutive, affectionate rather than literal. Adela comes from Germanic adal, noble, the same element behind Adelaide, Adeline and Alice.
How the name formed
- adal
- Adela
- Adelita
Related forms: Adela · Adèle · Adelheid · Adelina
Pronouncing Adelita
ah-deh-LEE-tah
Four syllables, stress on the third, all vowels open. English speakers manage it with very little adjustment.
Nicknames for Adelita
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1924
- Most girls named
- 197436 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1626reached in 1950
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%28 in 2025, from 28
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Adelita in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adela in Spanish — related form
- Adèle in French — related form
- Adelheid in German — related form
- Adelina in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California.
Adelitas among us
people named Adelita are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 57,402 born in 2025 was named Adelita
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Nieves test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Adelita's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Nieves climbed just as high around 1926, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Nieves's path sketches the road Adelita is walking now.
Adelita sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Adelita is headed
Adelita should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Adelita beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Adelita in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It carries a documented Germanic meaning and a documented Mexican history at once.
- Lita and Adela are ready short forms of quite different registers.
- The rhythm is even and open, which makes it easy to say in either language.
- It is a diminutive by construction, which can read as informal on a formal document.
- The song is well enough known in Mexico that the name arrives with a tune attached.
- Four syllables is long for American forms and gets shortened without being asked.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Adelita to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Adelita? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Adelita
Feminine · #4758 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Adelitas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Adelita are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Adelita in 2025?
- Adelita ranks #4758 among US girl names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Adelita?
- About 1 in every 57,402 US girls born in 2025 was named Adelita — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Adelita with classmates?
- Adelita will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Adelita
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marylou#4758 · Landon#4758 · Lexa#4758 · Alysia#4758 · Ixchel#4758 · Parisa#4758 · Jumana#4758 · Berenice#4758
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Adelita? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Adelita and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle