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Nela

#8,716 in 2025Girls' name

Short form of Kornelia

Nela has been given to 597 babies in the U.S. since 1903. In 2025 it ranked #8,716 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2019, with 27 recorded.

Babies named Nela, 2025

1 in 276,000

Nela over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nela: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Kornelia

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nela means

Nela is a short form of Kornelia.

Origin, language, and formation

Nela is used in Asturian, Czech, Galician and Slovak.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kornelia, Manuela and Manoela.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Asturian, Nela is pronounced /ˈnela/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 597 girls were recorded with the name Nela between 1903 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 27 in 2019; its best national rank was #1,882 in 1906.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,839 in 2020 to #8,716 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #6,645 in 2015 to #8,716 in 2025.

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 Nela?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 276,000
12 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 134,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#8,716
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
191,493 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nela 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 2025 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 191,493 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nela. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nelas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nela was born before 2008 — so the typical Nela is around 17 today.

Median birth year
2008
About 17 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
28.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
62.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
427
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 28.8% of all recorded uses (172).

Is Nela 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
−862
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,877
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,071
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.63×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
44.4%
Peak was 2019 (27)
Years since peak
6
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
37.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,882
1906

Spellings of Nela

Nela is not the most common spelling — Angela is, with 15.1% against Nela's 0.01%.

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 Nela is used

Across 1910–2025, Nela was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,299,610 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Florida1 in —
  3. 3Illinois1 in —
  4. 4New Jersey1 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. Nela has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nela around the world

Where Nela 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.

  • England & Wales
    2005–2025
    #807
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2010–2024
    #638
    in 2024
  • Northern Ireland
    2012–2019
    #298
    in 2019
  • Ireland
    2007–2025
    #608
    in 2025
  • France
    1981–2025
    #3,642
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2007–2023
    #2,049
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1951–1952
    #460
    in 1952

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Nela by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#8,716
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,877
Best rank ever
#1,882
1906
Peak year
2019
27 that year
First recorded
1903
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
597
Count in 2025
12

Names similar to Nela

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

NelyNeliNelliZelaDelaAelaNelsyBelaNeliaXelaMelaVelaAkelaSelaMeelaNeltaAmelaNelMaelaNelaniKeelaCielaRaelaNelva

Sibling names for Nela

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

Explore around Nela

Top names of 2019, Nela's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1906Girls' names starting with NAsturian Girl NamesGalician Girl Names