Della
Feminine · Germanic roots
Della is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 70,810 girls against 139 boys since 1880.
Della began as an affectionate clipping — the tail end of Adela, Adelaide, Delia — and then quietly went out on its own, the way Nellie and Sadie did. It has been part of the American name stock since the nineteenth century without ever disappearing, and it is turning up again on new babies. Two syllables, both open and soft, and nothing in it to spell twice.
How old is the name Della?
Della was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Della alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 24,000 people named Della are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Della most popular?
Della peaked in 1881, reaching #60 nationally. Today it ranks #563, 503 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Where it comes from
From Adal (Germanic element, 'noble') to Della
The story of Della
Della grew out of the nineteenth-century English habit of turning long formal names into warm short ones and then registering the short one on the birth certificate. Adela, Adelaide, Adeline, Delia and Cordelia all shed their front halves in family speech, and Della was the common landing place. In the United States it was well established from the earliest years of national name records, and it stayed in steady family use through the twentieth century while the fashion moved elsewhere. It now belongs to the group of soft, old-fashioned two-syllable names being picked up again by a new generation of parents.
Meaningscholars disagree
Depends on the longer name behind it: 'noble' by way of Adela and Adelaide, or from Delia, a title of the goddess Artemis born on Delos
Della is a short form rather than a name coined whole, so its meaning is inherited. Through Adela and Adelaide it goes back to the Germanic element adal, 'noble.' Through Delia — also shortened to Della in English use — it reaches Greek Delia, 'of Delos.' Cordelia and Fidelia have also handed the name down. All these roads are real; none cancels the others.
How the name formed
- AdalGermanic element, 'noble'
- Adela
- Adelaide
- Della
Related forms: Adele · Adela · Adelheid · Delia · Adeline · Adelina
Pronouncing Della
DEL-uh
Stress on the first syllable. One pronunciation everywhere in English, and the spelling gives it away on sight — rare for a name this old.
Nicknames for Della
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19161,172 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #60reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- +18.7%533 in 2025, from 449
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.
Della in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Adele in Italian — related form
- Adela in Spanish — related form
- Adelheid in German — related form
- Delia in Greek/Italian — related form
- Adeline in English — related form
- Adelina in Italian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, North Carolina.
Dellas among us
people named Della are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,016 born in 2025 was named Della
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Della is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Della is headed
Della looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 22% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Della beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Della in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds, with one settled pronunciation, so it rarely needs repeating or correcting.
- Unbroken use in the United States since the nineteenth century, so it reads as familiar rather than invented.
- Sits beside a whole family of longer names — Adela, Adelaide, Adeline, Cordelia, Delia — if you want a formal version on paper.
- Established short forms already exist: Dell, Dellie, Dee.
- Its relatives are recognizable across Spanish, Italian and German-speaking families.
- It is a short form by origin, so it comes with no built-in long version. Some parents record Adelaide or Cordelia and use Della daily; others use Della on its own, as families have done for well over a century.
- It is still strongly represented among the oldest living generations, which is exactly why it sounds fresh again now — but expect some people to hear it as their grandmother's era rather than a baby's.
- In Italian, della is an everyday grammatical word meaning 'of the,' which Italian speakers will notice, usually with amusement rather than objection.
- It rhymes with Bella, Ella and Stella, all far more common, so it may get misheard as one of them on a first introduction.
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What they receive
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Della
Feminine · Germanic roots · #563 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 24,000 people named Della are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Della in 2025?
- Della ranks #563 among US girl names in 2025, with 533 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Della?
- About 1 in every 3,016 US girls born in 2025 was named Della — 533 in all.
- Will my child share the name Della with classmates?
- Della will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Della
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armani#562 · Izabella#564 · Nadia#565 · Amalia#566 · Ivanna#566 · Lilian#560 · Makayla#566 · Mavis#560
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Della? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Della and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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