Bela
Feminine · “white' in the Slavic reading”
Bela is given to both — 810 girls and 485 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Bela is a rare thing: one spelling with three unrelated parents. It is a Slavic word for white, a Hungarian name of quite different origin, and a name in the Hebrew Bible, and all three reached American birth records. Its American peak is early — the 1910s — which points squarely at the Central European immigration of that decade.
How old is the name Bela?
Bela first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Bela alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 800 people named Bela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bela most popular?
Bela peaked in 1913, reaching #3187 nationally. Today it ranks #5722, 2,535 places below that high. See the whole 1913 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bela to Bela
The story of Bela
American records for Bela in the first decades of the twentieth century sit alongside a very large migration from Austria-Hungary and the Balkans, and both the Slavic and Hungarian names arrived in that traffic. On women the Slavic 'white' reading dominates; on men, the Hungarian royal name, which is why English readers who know only Bela Lugosi assume the name is male, and why Hungarians who know only King Bela IV assume the same. Meanwhile the Biblical Bela had been available to English-speaking families since the seventeenth century through the ordinary Protestant practice of reading names out of Genesis. Three streams, one spelling, and no way to separate them from a birth certificate alone.
Meaningscholars disagree
'white' in the Slavic reading; otherwise not established
Three sources converge on this spelling. In the South and West Slavic languages bela or bila is the ordinary feminine adjective for white, and it produces names such as Belyana and the place name Belgrade, 'white city'. Hungarian Bela is a masculine royal name of uncertain etymology, sometimes connected to bel, 'inside, heart', and borne by four medieval kings. Hebrew Bela appears in Genesis as both a king of Edom and a son of Benjamin, traditionally read as 'devouring' or 'swallowing'. A given Bela may descend from any of the three, and the spelling does not say which.
How the name formed
- bela
- Bela
Related forms: Bela · Bela · Bela · Bela · Bella
Pronouncing Bela
BEH-lah
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a short open e — not the long a of Bayla. Hungarian says it the same way. English speakers frequently import the Italian bella and say BELL-uh, which is close but not identical, and doubles the l that this spelling does not have.
Nicknames for Bela
Moderate
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
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 201044 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3187reached in 1913
- Change vs 2024
- −30.0%21 in 2025, from 30
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.
Bela in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bela in Hungarian — same name
- Bela in Czech — same name
- Bela in Serbian — same name
- Bela in Portuguese — related form
- Bella in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Belas among us
people named Bela are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 76,537 born in 2025 was named Bela
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Bela
- #5722
- Bela on the 2025 chart
- #144
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Bela went to 21 girls in 2025, but Bella is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 2,157, which makes it the 144th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,578 places above the chart.
- Bella2,129
- Bela21
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 745 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 76,537 for Bela itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Bela 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
Bela beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bela in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two letters shorter than Bella and unmistakably its own name rather than a clipping.
- It is readable and sayable in Slavic languages, Hungarian, Portuguese and English alike.
- It has genuine documented history in three separate traditions, so a bearer can choose which to claim.
- It is constantly corrected to Bella, in speech and in writing.
- In Hungary the name is male, which affects how it reads to Hungarian speakers.
- The three origins mean there is no single meaning to give when asked.
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What they receive
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Bela
Feminine · #5722 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Belas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Bela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Bela?
- Bela is one of 2 recorded spellings. Bella is the more common one — 2,129 births in 2025 against 21 for Bela.
- How popular is the name Bela in 2025?
- Bela ranks #5722 among US girl names in 2025, with 21 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bela?
- About 1 in every 76,537 US girls born in 2025 was named Bela — 21 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bela with classmates?
- Bela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bela
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rosina#5722 · Delores#5722 · Vaughn#5722 · Roseline#5722 · Loyal#5722 · Missy#5722 · Danitza#5722 · Margret#5722
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bela? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bela and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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