Estrella
Feminine · Latin roots · “Star”
Estrella is the Spanish word for star, still a plain everyday noun in the language and a given name at the same time. It has been on American records since the early twentieth century, and it moves in the mouth the way Spanish likes — four syllables, the stress landing on that long open TREH, then softening away. In English or in Spanish, it is a name people recognize on sight even if they have never met one.
How old is the name Estrella?
Estrella first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Estrella alive today was born around 2007, making them about 18 years old. About 16,500 people named Estrella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Estrella most popular?
Estrella peaked in 2005, reaching #296 nationally. Today it ranks #612, 316 places below that high. See the whole 2005 chart.
Estrella appears on these lists:
- Names ranked #601–1000: known, but barely shared
- Celestial names: written in the stars
- Spanish and Latin names with warmth
- East and Southeast Asian names in American use
- all guides
Works in Spanish & Latino families too:
Where it comes from
From stella (Latin) to Estrella
The story of Estrella
The root is Latin stella, which passed into Spanish as estrella and into French as estoile, later étoile. As a personal name it grew out of Catholic Marian devotion: Mary is addressed as Stella Maris, star of the sea, in the medieval Latin hymn Ave Maris Stella, and Spanish churches honored her under titles such as Nuestra Señora de la Estrella. Girls were named for the title, as they were for Rosario, Consuelo or Pilar. The name traveled with Spanish across the Atlantic, and in the United States it has been recorded since the early twentieth century, most strongly in states with deep Spanish-speaking histories.
Meaning
Star
From Spanish estrella, descended from Latin stella.
How the name formed
- stellaLatin
- Stella Maris
- estrellaSpanish
- Estrella
Related forms: Stella · Estelle · Estrela · Estela · Estella · Estel
Pronouncing Estrella
es-TREH-yah
That is the Spanish pronunciation, with the double L sounded as a Y across most of the Spanish-speaking world. English speakers commonly say ess-TREL-uh instead. Both are in real use in the US, and many families answer to whichever the speaker offers.
Nicknames for Estrella
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 20051,105 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #296reached in 2005
- Change vs 2023
- +11.7%477 in 2025, from 427
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.
Estrella in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Stella in Italian — related form
- Estelle in French — related form
- Estrela in Portuguese — same name
- Estela in Spanish — related form
- Estella in English — related form
- Estel in Catalan — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Estrellas among us
people named Estrella are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,370 born in 2025 was named Estrella
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 Earline test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Estrella's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Earline climbed just as high around 1932, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Earline's path sketches the road Estrella is walking now.
Estrella is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Estrella is headed
Estrella 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.
Estrella beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Estrella in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent to any Spanish speaker — no explanation needed, in a language spoken by tens of millions in the US.
- It connects to a whole family of familiar names — Stella, Estelle, Estella — so short forms and English-facing alternatives already exist.
- The spelling follows Spanish rules exactly, so it is written correctly on the first try by anyone who reads Spanish.
- It has a continuous American record going back more than a century, and is currently gaining ground rather than fading.
- Two pronunciations circulate: the Spanish es-TREH-yah and the anglicized ess-TREL-uh. Your daughter will hear both, and will likely spend her life deciding, case by case, whether to correct people or let it go.
- English speakers who do not know the name may reach for Estella, Estela or Estrela when writing it down. The correction is small but frequent.
- In Spanish it is not only a name but an ordinary word for star, the way Star is in English. Within Spanish-speaking families this is entirely normal; outside them it can register as a word name.
- It is uncommon enough that a classroom will almost certainly hold only one — good for distinctiveness, less so if a child would rather blend in.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Estrella
Feminine · Latin roots · #612 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Estrellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 16,500 people named Estrella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Estrella in 2025?
- Estrella ranks #612 among US girl names in 2025, with 477 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Estrella?
- About 1 in every 3,370 US girls born in 2025 was named Estrella — 477 in all.
- Will my child share the name Estrella with classmates?
- Estrella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Estrella
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Halo#612 · Leyla#611 · Sierra#614 · Ari#614 · Siena#610 · Ariya#614 · Brinley#608 · Rosalia#608
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Estrella? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Estrella and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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