# Bela (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/bela/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 1,295 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 485 / 810 (63% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 167, 1996 to 2025 |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 34 | 4,263 |
| 2012 | 41 | 3,794 |
| 2013 | 28 | 4,919 |
| 2014 | 38 | 3,934 |
| 2015 | 16 | 7,334 |
| 2016 | 25 | 5,304 |
| 2017 | 22 | 5,691 |
| 2018 | 16 | 7,160 |
| 2019 | 27 | 4,930 |
| 2020 | 19 | 6,119 |
| 2021 | 31 | 4,426 |
| 2022 | 30 | 4,604 |
| 2023 | 37 | 3,996 |
| 2024 | 30 | 4,578 |
| 2025 | 21 | 5,749 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 9 | 6,904 |
| 2001 | 5 | 10,745 |
| 2002 | 10 | 6,586 |
| 2003 | 7 | 8,758 |
| 2004 | 13 | 5,846 |
| 2005 | 12 | 6,264 |
| 2006 | 5 | 12,248 |
| 2007 | 11 | 7,151 |
| 2008 | 6 | 11,221 |
| 2014 | 6 | 10,869 |
| 2015 | 7 | 9,690 |
| 2016 | 6 | 10,905 |
| 2017 | 6 | 10,944 |
| 2018 | 5 | 12,392 |
| 2022 | 8 | 9,083 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 9 | 2,589 |
| 2011 | 13 | 2,025 |
| 2012 | 10 | 2,521 |
| 2013 | 6 | 3,536 |
| 2014 | 13 | 2,058 |
| 2015 | 10 | 2,496 |
| 2016 | 10 | 2,547 |
| 2017 | 10 | 2,502 |
| 2018 | 6 | 3,518 |
| 2020 | 6 | 3,447 |
| 2021 | 7 | 3,192 |
| 2022 | 5 | 3,970 |
| 2023 | 5 | 4,056 |
| 2024 | 11 | 2,411 |
| 2025 | 8 | 3,035 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 3 | 4,805 |
| 2015 | 6 | 3,004 |
| 2021 | 3 | 4,789 |

## People named Bela

- Béla Fleck, American banjo player
- Béla Békessy, fencer (1875–1916)
- Béla Goldoványi, athletics competitor (1925–1972)
- Béla Volentik, association football player (1907-1990)
- Béla Kéler, composer and conductor from the Kingdom of Hungary (1820-1882)
- Béla Illés, association football player
- Béla Bakosi, athletics competitor (1957–)
- Béla, Duke of Slavonia, Duke of Slavonia (1250–1269)
- Béla Balogh, association football player
- Béla Bay, fencer (1907–1999)
- Béla Vihar, Attila József Prized Hungarian poet, journalist, educator (1908–1978)
- Adalbert Marksteiner, association football player (1919–1976)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.