Sanela

Girls' name

Healthy

Sanela has been given to 77 babies in the U.S. since 1980. 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 1983, with 7 recorded.

Babies named Sanela, 2006

1 in 659,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sanela: meaning, origin, and history

Healthy

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Sanela means

Sanela means “healthy”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Sanela is used in Croatian and Slovene.

Origin, language, and formation

Sanela is used in Serbo-Croatian.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Serbo-Croatian, Sanela is pronounced /sanela/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 77 girls were recorded with the name Sanela between 1980 and 2006. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1983; its best national rank was #8,771 in 1983.

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 Sanela?

Sanela had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2006, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2006: 1 in 659,000; 6 of 3,956,166 births
Among girls only: 1 in 317,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2006: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 457,035 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Sanela 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 2006 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 457,035 children born in 2006 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sanela. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sanelas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sanela was born before 1998 — so the typical Sanela is around 27 today.

Median birth year: 1998; About 27 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 40.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 92.2%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 77; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 40.3% of all recorded uses (31).

Is Sanela 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 1983 (7)
Years since peak: 42; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Steady; 11.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #8,771; 1983

Spellings of Sanela

Sanela is not the most common spelling — Sandra is, with 36.3% against Sanela's <0.01%.

Sandra36.3%875,531
Angela27.9%673,257
Pamela24.7%595,076
Daniela2.8%68,514
Janell0.65%15,733
Adela0.58%14,105
Isabela0.53%12,698
Janel0.50%12,023

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.

Sanela around the world

Where Sanela 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
2016–2016
#5,785
in 2016
France
1974–2022
#7,018
in 2022
South Australia
1981–2002
#730
in 2002

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Sanela 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: #8,771; 1983
Peak year: 1983; 7 that year
First recorded: 1980
Last recorded: 2006
All-time count: 77
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Sanela

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

Sanaai Sanova Sanylah Sanem Sanavi Sanovia Sanyla Sanye Sanari Santi Sandia Sander Nayela Canela Briela Sanora Santiana Sanaii Anyela Amiela Zarela Sanika Sanvika Saniaa

Sibling names for Sanela

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

Afton Tanesha Matthew Adriane Laquita Thomas Holli Venessa

For a brother

Jerrod Marques Jamaal Donnell Brenton Chauncey Leopoldo Whitney

Explore around Sanela

Top names of 1983, Sanela's peak year The 1980s in full Other names that peaked in 1983 Girls' names starting with S