Jela

Girls' name

Short form of Jelena

Jela has been given to 68 babies in the U.S. since 1996. 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 1998, with 13 recorded.

Babies named Jela, 2023

1 in 368,000

Jela 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Jela: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Jelena

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Jela means

Jela is a short form of Jelena.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Jela is used in Serbian, Croatian and Slovak.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈjɛ.la/ for Jela.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Jela → Jelena → Єлена → Еле́на → Ἑλένη. The family’s meaning is “to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”, recorded in Ancient Greek with the source elements swel-.

Origin, language, and formation

Jela is used in Serbo-Croatian and Slovak.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Jelena.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Serbo-Croatian, Jela is pronounced /jěːla/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 68 girls were recorded with the name Jela between 1996 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 13 in 1998; its best national rank was #7,289 in 1998.

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 Jela?

Jela had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023: 1 in 368,000; 9 of 3,314,783 births
Among girls only: 1 in 178,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 255,294 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Jela 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 2023 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 255,294 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Jela. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Jelas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Jela was born before 1999 — so the typical Jela is around 26 today.

Median birth year: 1999; About 26 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 50.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 58.8%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 68; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 50.0% of all recorded uses (34).

Is Jela 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 1998 (13)
Years since peak: 27; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 43.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #7,289; 1998

Spellings of Jela

Jela is not the most common spelling — Julia is, with 10.1% against Jela's <0.01%.

Julia10.1%476,250
Jean9.7%458,436
Ella7.4%351,313
Eva6.0%284,761
Jill4.4%208,071
Vera3.2%149,456
Jenna3.1%148,587
Lena3.1%146,479

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.

Jela around the world

Where Jela ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

South Australia
2006–2006
#782
in 2006

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Jela 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: #7,289; 1998
Peak year: 1998; 13 that year
First recorded: 1996
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 68
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Jela

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

Hela Jelany Vaela Xaela Naela Saela Seela Baela Gaela Taela Cela Jelina Heela Jelesa Jelene Canela Nayela Fela Xela Miela Jeleah Ysela Zaela Amiela

Sibling names for Jela

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

Cydney Kalie Reilly Reanna Serina Shae Taya Allyssa

For a brother

Demarco Marquez Ronaldo Tariq Marshal Samual Maximillian Reyes

Explore around Jela

Top names of 1998, Jela's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1998 Girls' names starting with J