Ella
Masculine · “All”
Ella is given to girls far more often — 351,313 girls against 901 boys since 1880. See Ella as a girl name
Ella is four letters, two of them the same, and it has been in use in English for nearly a thousand years. Two American women called Ella did the same thing in different fields: built something enormous and let other people stand in front of it.
How old is the name Ella?
Ella first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Ella alive today was born around 1932, making them about 93 years old. About 300 people named Ella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ella most popular?
Ella peaked in 1898, reaching #663 nationally. See the whole 1898 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Alia to Ella
The story of Ella
One Ella won an amateur night at a Harlem theater she had entered as a dancer — lost her nerve when she saw the act before her, sang instead, and was still singing sixty years later, with a range and an ear that other musicians describe in terms usually reserved for instruments. The other never performed at all. Ella Baker spent fifty years building the organizations that the civil rights movement ran on, insisted that strong people do not need strong leaders, and made a point of pushing students to run their own campaigns rather than taking direction from famous men. She is in far fewer photographs than the people she trained, which was deliberate.
Meaningscholars disagree
All, complete — or simply the end of a longer name
Two accounts compete. One takes it from a Germanic name brought to England by the Normans, built on a word meaning all or complete. The other treats it as the tail end of names like Isabella and Gabriella, cut loose and used alone — which certainly happened, whatever the older history. Both are true of different bearers.
How the name formed
- Alia
- Ella
Related forms: Ella · Ella · Ella · Ella
Pronouncing Ella
EL-uh
Two syllables, stress at the front. Said the same way in every language that uses it.
Nicknames for Ella
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 200427 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #663reached in 1898
- Change vs 2018
- −50.0%5 in 2023, from 10
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.
Ella in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ella in German — same name
- Ella in Italian — same name
- Ella in Finnish — same name
- Ella in Hungarian — same name
Ellas among us
people named Ella 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
Ella 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, soft and easy for a small child to say about herself.
- It is spelled identically across most of Europe and read correctly everywhere.
- It sits inside several longer names, so a child can grow into a formal version if she wants one.
- It is currently very well used, so she is unlikely to be the only one.
- Ella, Ellie and Bella are close enough to be swapped constantly in a classroom.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ella to the vote.
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What they receive
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Ella
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Ellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Ella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ella in 2025?
- Ella is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Ella with classmates?
- Ella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More E names
The most-given names starting with E, all years combined.
Edward#224 · Eric#273 · Ethan#24 · Eugene#943 · Elijah#7 · Ernest#1038 · Earl#2230 · Evan#153
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ella? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ella and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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