Shella
Feminine · “Blind”
The saint behind this name is the patron of music because of a line that may be a misreading. Her acts describe her sitting through her own wedding while the instruments played, singing in her heart to God; a later reader took the phrase to mean she was playing, and she has had an organ next to her in art ever since.
How old is the name Shella?
Shella first appears in US birth records in 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Shella alive today was born around 1964, making them about 61 years old. About 900 people named Shella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shella most popular?
Shella peaked in 1959, reaching #1695 nationally. See the whole 1959 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Caecilia to Shella
The story of Shella
The Latin says that while the organs played she sang in her heart to the Lord alone, and it is a description of her ignoring the wedding music rather than making any. By the fifteenth century she was being painted at a keyboard; by the sixteenth she had a music guild in Rome and a feast that musicians observed; and by the eighteenth, composers were writing odes for her day as a matter of course. The whole tradition of the patron saint of music rests on somebody reading a sentence about a bride not listening. It is one of the best-documented accidents in the history of devotion.
Meaningscholars disagree
Blind, by tradition
The name comes from the Roman clan name Caecilius, generally connected to caecus, blind, though clan names are frequently opaque and this one is not certain. The Irish form of it produced Sheila, which this spelling respells. Nothing about the name refers to music, which is entirely an accident of one sentence.
How the name formed
- Caecilia
- Sile
- Sheila
- Shella
Related forms: Sile
Pronouncing Shella
SHEL-uh
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a short first vowel, which the doubled l guarantees. Sheila has a long first vowel, so this spelling is a genuinely different name in sound and not only on paper.
Nicknames for Shella
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
- 1909
- Most girls named
- 195942 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1695reached in 1959
- Change vs 2010
- 0.0%6 in 2024, from 6
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.
Shella in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sile in Irish — related form
Shellas among us
people named Shella 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
Shella 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
- Ella is a complete, entirely current name sitting in the back half.
- Short, firm and easy to spell once heard.
- The spelling settles the vowel, which the Irish-derived form does not.
- Sheila is far commoner and is said with a different vowel, so both the letters and the sound will be corrected.
- It will be heard as Stella and Shelley, both of which are commoner.
- It is strongly dated to the middle of the last century in American records.
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Shella
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Shella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shella in 2025?
- Shella is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shella with classmates?
- Shella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shella? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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