Rosella
Feminine · “little rose”
Rosella is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 15,990 girls against 5 boys since 1880.
Rosella is a little rose in Italian, and it is also an Australian parrot — named by early colonists after Rose Hill, where the birds were first seen.
How old is the name Rosella?
Rosella was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Rosella alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 4,800 people named Rosella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Rosella most popular?
Rosella peaked in 1916, reaching #307 nationally. Today it ranks #2326, 2,019 places below that high. See the whole 1916 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From rosa to Rosella
The story of Rosella
Rosa and its diminutives were common across Italy and Spain, and Rosella is a standard Italian form. Italian emigration brought it to America in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and it also appears in general American use alongside Estella, Luella and Zella, which share its ending. Rosella peaked in American records around 1918.
Meaning
little rose
From the Italian rosa, 'rose', with the diminutive -ella. The Australian parrot is a separate word: colonists called the birds 'Rose Hill parakeets' after the settlement, which was shortened to rosehillers and then rosellas — a coincidence rather than a shared origin.
How the name formed
- rosa
- Rosa
- Rosella
Related forms: Rosella · Rosalía · Roselle
Pronouncing Rosella
roh-ZEL-uh
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Italian says it the same way with a crisper double l.
Nicknames for Rosella
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
- 1924435 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #307reached in 1916
- Change vs 2022
- +41.8%78 in 2025, from 55
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.
Rosella in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Rosella in Italian — same name
- Rosalía in Spanish — related form
- Roselle in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Michigan, California.
Rosellas among us
people named Rosella are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 20,606 born in 2025 was named Rosella
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 Vada test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Rosella's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Vada climbed just as high around 1901, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Vada's path sketches the road Rosella is walking now.
Rosella 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
Where Rosella is headed
Rosella looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 15% 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.
Rosella beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Rosella 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 concrete, transparent and undisputed.
- Rose and Ella are two short forms, both of them currently fashionable.
- It is standard in Italian without any change of spelling.
- The Australian parrot shares the name by coincidence.
- It is period-coded to the early twentieth century in American records.
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What they receive
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Rosella
Feminine · #2326 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Rosellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,800 people named Rosella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Rosella in 2025?
- Rosella ranks #2326 among US girl names in 2025, with 78 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Rosella?
- About 1 in every 20,606 US girls born in 2025 was named Rosella — 78 in all.
- Will my child share the name Rosella with classmates?
- Rosella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Rosella
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ria#2326 · Malaika#2326 · Delta#2326 · Caitlin#2326 · Tommie#2326 · Azalia#2326 · Audrina#2326 · Sitara#2326
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Rosella? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Rosella and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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