# Bella (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/bella/  
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 | girls |
| Origin | Italian |
| Meaning | “beautiful” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɛlə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 83,766 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 45 / 83,721 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 14,623, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Italian: a diminutive of Isabella and Arabella, by folk etymology interpreted as bella (“beautiful”).

## What it means

Bella is grouped under beauty.

## 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 | 4,280 | 60 |
| 2012 | 4,362 | 54 |
| 2013 | 4,190 | 58 |
| 2014 | 4,107 | 70 |
| 2015 | 3,814 | 74 |
| 2016 | 3,685 | 78 |
| 2017 | 4,667 | 50 |
| 2018 | 4,578 | 48 |
| 2019 | 4,399 | 50 |
| 2020 | 3,649 | 63 |
| 2021 | 3,369 | 73 |
| 2022 | 2,915 | 85 |
| 2023 | 2,566 | 104 |
| 2024 | 2,479 | 109 |
| 2025 | 2,129 | 136 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 5 | 12,758 |
| 2009 | 5 | 12,703 |
| 2010 | 8 | 8,898 |
| 2011 | 9 | 8,154 |
| 2014 | 7 | 9,757 |
| 2017 | 6 | 10,945 |
| 2019 | 5 | 12,387 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 823 | 69 |
| 2012 | 1,027 | 58 |
| 2013 | 1,042 | 56 |
| 2014 | 1,141 | 52 |
| 2015 | 1,020 | 58 |
| 2016 | 946 | 66 |
| 2017 | 974 | 59 |
| 2018 | 969 | 54 |
| 2019 | 958 | 53 |
| 2020 | 792 | 63 |
| 2021 | 730 | 72 |
| 2022 | 642 | 77 |
| 2023 | 687 | 67 |
| 2024 | 619 | 76 |
| 2025 | 515 | 91 |

## In other languages

- Hebrew: בֶּלָה
- Portuguese: Bela

## People named Bella

- Bella Abzug, American politician (1920-1998)
- Bella Darvi, actress (1928-1971)
- Bella Rosenfeld, American writer and artist model (1889-1944)
- Bella Moretti, American pornographic actress
- Bella Davidovich, American musician
- Bella Agossou, Beninese actress
- Bella Sims, American swimmer
- Bella Guerin, Australian activist (1858-1923)
- Bella Forsgrén, Finnish politician
- Bella Fromm, German journalist (1890–1972)
- Bella Dodd, American communist and anti-communist (1904-1969)
- Bella Paige, Australian singer

## 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.