Clella
Feminine
Clella is almost certainly a home-made spelling of an old Roman name, and the Roman name belongs to a girl who is remembered for swimming a river to get away from an army.
How old is the name Clella?
Clella first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Clella alive today was born around 1920, making them about 105 years old. About 100 people named Clella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Clella most popular?
Clella peaked in 1899, reaching #835 nationally. See the whole 1899 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Clella
Rome told a story about a girl called Cloelia. Handed over as a hostage in a treaty with an Etruscan king, she escaped from the camp, swam the Tiber under fire with a group of other young hostages, and got them home. The king demanded her back; Rome returned her, because the treaty said so; and the king, impressed, freed her and let her choose others to take with her. She chose the youngest. The city put up a statue of her on horseback, which was unheard of for a woman, and Roman writers kept retelling the story for five hundred years as an example of what they wanted to believe about themselves.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Roman name it resembles is a clan name, and Roman clan names usually cannot be translated — they are older than the explanations offered for them. This spelling may equally be an American build from the eighteen-eighties, when hundreds of women's names were made from pleasant sounds.
Pronouncing Clella
KLEL-uh
Two syllables, stress at the front. The doubled l keeps the vowel before it short.
Nicknames for Clella
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
- 1885
- Most girls named
- 191632 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #835reached in 1899
- Change vs 1957
- +40.0%7 in 1958, from 5
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.
Clella in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Clelia in Italian — related form
Clellas among us
people named Clella are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Clella sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, firm and carried by almost nobody alive.
- It contains a familiar name that can be used on its own.
- The spelling is unambiguous.
- It will be heard as Clara, Cleo or Della, which are all nearby.
- The name belongs entirely to one American era.
- The Roman connection is a resemblance rather than a documented descent.
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Clella
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Clellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 100 people named Clella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Clella in 2025?
- Clella is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Clella with classmates?
- Clella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Clella? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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