Chela

Girls' name

Diminutive of Graciela

Chela has been given to 474 babies in the U.S. since 1955. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1985, with 79 recorded.

Babies named Chela, 2011

1 in 610,000

Chela over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Chela: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Graciela

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Chela means

Chela is a diminutive of Graciela.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Chela is used in Spanish.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈt͡ʃe.la/ for Chela.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Chela → Graciela → grātia. The family’s meaning is “gratitude”, recorded in Latin with the source elements grātia.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Graciela.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 474 girls were recorded with the name Chela between 1955 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 79 in 1985; its best national rank was #1,536 in 1985.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Chela?

Chela had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2011, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2011: 1 in 610,000; 6 of 3,657,935 births
Among girls only: 1 in 293,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2011: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 422,582 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Chela sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2011 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 422,582 children born in 2011 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Chela. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Chelas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Chela was born before 1986 — so the typical Chela is around 39 today.

Median birth year: 1986; About 39 years old
Biggest decade: 1980s; 39.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 48.9%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 474; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1980s — 39.0% of all recorded uses (185).

Is Chela rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1985 (79)
Years since peak: 40; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 37.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #1,536; 1985

Spellings of Chela

Chela is not the most common spelling — Sheila is, with 19.1% against Chela's 0.04%.

Sheila19.1%238,774
Thelma18.0%225,460
Chelsea13.0%162,884
Carla12.0%150,390
Celia4.5%56,642
Shelia3.8%47,780
Lela3.4%43,005
Cheri2.9%36,068

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Chela is used

Across 1910–2025, Chela was most concentrated in District of Columbia — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 434,853 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1District of Columbia1 in 100,000
2Virginia1 in 100,000
3California1 in —
4North Carolina1 in —
5South Carolina1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Chela has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Chela by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #1,536; 1985
Peak year: 1985; 79 that year
First recorded: 1955
Last recorded: 2011
All-time count: 474
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Chela

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Chevy Chera Amela Maela Meela Chery Cherl Akela Ciela Raela Nyela Chenoa Chelby Keela Chessa Stela Zaela Ysela Chevon Dela Anjela Miela Nela Chesnee

Sibling names for Chela

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Linsey Kristan Santana Kandice Daniel Domonique Keshia Venessa

For a brother

Whitney Marques Derik Derrell Brenton Antoine Jerrod Darell

Explore around Chela

Top names of 1985, Chela's peak year The 1980s in full Other names that peaked in 1985 Girls' names starting with C