Tela
Feminine
Tela is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 693 girls against 7 boys since 1880.
Tela is four letters that could be a clipping of half a dozen longer names, an ordinary Latin noun, or a build of its own, and the record holds it for sons and daughters alike. The Latin word it matches means a web or the warp on a loom, and that idea has furnished English with a surprising set of words.
How old is the name Tela?
Tela first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Tela alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 700 people named Tela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tela most popular?
Tela peaked in 1894, reaching #1485 nationally. See the whole 1894 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Tela
A text is a woven thing. The Latin verb texere, to weave, gives textile in the obvious way and text in the less obvious one: a piece of writing was described as a weaving of words, and the metaphor was so ordinary in Latin that nobody thought of it as a metaphor. Context is what is woven together with it. Pretext is what is woven in front. A tissue is a woven cloth, which is why anatomists borrowed it for the fabric of the body. And subtle is sub-tela, woven finely enough to pass under notice — a description of thin cloth that became a description of thin reasoning. The whole vocabulary of argument and literature in English is built out of a loom, and the same word sits inside architect and technology, from a Greek relative meaning to make.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The Latin noun means a woven thing — a web, or the threads stretched on a loom — and it survives in anatomy as the name of certain membranes. Whether any American family meant that, or cut the name from Otelia, Estella or something else, is not recorded.
Pronouncing Tela
TEE-luh
Two syllables with the stress at the front. Some families say TELL-uh with a short first vowel instead, and the spelling supports both.
Nicknames for Tela
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
- 1894
- Most girls named
- 198545 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1485reached in 1894
- Change vs 2015
- +50.0%9 in 2018, 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.
Telas among us
people named Tela 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
Tela 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
- Four letters with no silent ones make it quick to write and simple to spell aloud.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Two open syllables are easy for a small child to say.
- The first vowel has two readings, so the name is said two ways.
- Teela, Tella and Talia will all be written for it.
- Nothing records where any particular family got it, so three origins remain possible.
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Tela
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Telas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Tela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Tela in 2025?
- Tela is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Tela with classmates?
- Tela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Teresa#908 · Theresa#1548 · Tiffany#878 · Tammy#3645 · Taylor#403 · Tina#2778 · Tracy#2153 · Thelma#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tela? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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