# Ella (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/ella/  
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 | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɛl.ə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 352,214 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 901 / 351,313 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 69,984, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

A 19th-century shortening of Eleanor or Ellen, later also used for any name ending in -ella, such as Gabriella or Daniella. Similar abbreviations have been formed independently in many European languages, for any name containing the syllable -el-, e.g. Elisabeth.

## 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 | 9,597 | 12 |
| 2012 | 9,210 | 12 |
| 2013 | 8,461 | 15 |
| 2014 | 8,570 | 17 |
| 2015 | 7,918 | 18 |
| 2016 | 7,940 | 17 |
| 2017 | 8,084 | 16 |
| 2018 | 8,127 | 15 |
| 2019 | 8,131 | 13 |
| 2020 | 7,372 | 15 |
| 2021 | 7,041 | 16 |
| 2022 | 6,291 | 25 |
| 2023 | 5,670 | 32 |
| 2024 | 5,715 | 30 |
| 2025 | 5,831 | 29 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 12 | 6,347 |
| 2006 | 14 | 5,869 |
| 2007 | 16 | 5,502 |
| 2008 | 10 | 7,863 |
| 2009 | 12 | 6,922 |
| 2010 | 14 | 6,138 |
| 2011 | 7 | 9,942 |
| 2012 | 13 | 6,418 |
| 2013 | 9 | 8,308 |
| 2014 | 7 | 9,949 |
| 2016 | 5 | 12,769 |
| 2017 | 6 | 11,163 |
| 2018 | 10 | 7,763 |
| 2021 | 9 | 8,367 |
| 2023 | 5 | 12,776 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2,783 | 16 |
| 2012 | 2,559 | 18 |
| 2013 | 2,722 | 16 |
| 2014 | 2,465 | 16 |
| 2015 | 3,028 | 6 |
| 2016 | 2,702 | 9 |
| 2017 | 2,452 | 9 |
| 2018 | 2,326 | 9 |
| 2019 | 2,105 | 13 |
| 2020 | 1,887 | 16 |
| 2021 | 1,756 | 20 |
| 2022 | 1,522 | 25 |
| 2023 | 1,307 | 27 |
| 2024 | 1,108 | 39 |
| 2025 | 932 | 46 |

## In other languages

- Danish: Ella
- Finnish: Ella
- German: Ella
- Hebrew: אֵלָה
- Hungarian: Ella
- Norwegian: Ella
- Swedish: Ella

## People named Ella

- Ella Fitzgerald, American jazz singer (1917–1996)
- Ella Purnell, British actress (born 1996)
- Ella Josephine Baker, African-American civil rights and human rights activist (1903–1986)
- Ella Balinska, English actress
- Ella Wheeler Wilcox, American author and poet (1850–1919)
- Ella Henderson, British singer
- Ella Toone, English association football player
- Ella Raines, American actress (1920-1988)
- Ella Rubin, American actress (born 2001)
- Ella Eyre, British singer and songwriter
- Ella Langley, American country singer
- Ella Grasso, American politician; 83rd governor of Connecticut (1975-80)

## 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.