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Nella

#2,852 in 2025Girls' name

Short form of Antonella

Nella has been given to 4,374 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,852 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1927, with 81 recorded.

Babies named Nella, 2025

1 in 55,300

Nella over time, 1880–2025

Girls
025507510018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nella: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Antonella

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nella means

Nella is a short form of Antonella.

Origin, language, and formation

Nella is used in Estonian and Finnish.

Nella comes through German Cornelia.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Antonella and Cornelia.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Nella is pronounced /ˈnelːɑ/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,374 girls were recorded with the name Nella between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 81 in 1927; its best national rank was #387 in 1881.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,590 in 2020 to #2,852 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #2,920 in 2015 to #2,852 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 Nella?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 55,300
60 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 26,800
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,852
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
38,299 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nella 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 38,299 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nella. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nellas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nella was born before 1940 — so the typical Nella is around 85 today.

Median birth year
1940
About 85 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
15.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
26.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,776
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 15.0% of all recorded uses (656).

Is Nella 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
−61
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−262
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+68
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
74.1%
Peak was 1927 (81)
Years since peak
98
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#387
1881

Spellings of Nella

Nella is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 18.0% against Nella's 0.17%.

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 Nella is used

Across 2016–2025, Nella was most concentrated in Illinois — about 1 in 11,111 girls, against 1 in 36,886 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in 100,000).

19 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Illinois1 in 11,111
  2. 2California1 in 25,000
  3. 3Michigan1 in 33,333
  4. 4New York1 in 33,333
  5. 5Washington1 in 33,333
  6. 6Florida1 in 50,000
  7. 7Ohio1 in 50,000
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 in 50,000

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.

Nella around the world

Where Nella 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
    2002–2025
    #807
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2021–2022
    #531
    in 2022
  • Northern Ireland
    2019–2019
    #424
    in 2019
  • Ireland
    2011–2024
    #631
    in 2024
  • France
    1907–2025
    #1,796
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,151
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1951–2013
    #536
    in 2013

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.

Notable people named Nella

People whose public names include Nella, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Nella in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Nella. Linked forms have their own page here.

EllaNelaNelleNillaNellieNennella

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Nella by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,852
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 262
Best rank ever
#387
1881
Peak year
1927
81 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,374
Count in 2025
60

Names similar to Nella

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

NelleNellyNeliaCallaLillaNeldaRillaVellaMillaJoellaNoellaAdellaZellaIdellaNelliRellaNelmaNellNelvaOzellaNelyNelaNelsyIlla

Names with a curve like Nella

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Nella, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

RosalineBethelOdeliaEvelineHellenAugustineEulaliaRomaIraMaidaGeorgianaQueenie

Sibling names for Nella

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 Nella

Top names of 1927, Nella's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1881Girls' names starting with N