Sella

Girls' name

Short form of Cecilie

Sella has been given to 26 babies in the U.S. since 1909. 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 1909, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Sella, 2023

1 in 663,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Sella: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Cecilie

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Sella means

Sella is a short form of Cecilie.

Origin, language, and formation

Sella is used in Norwegian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Cecilie.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 26 girls were recorded with the name Sella between 1909 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1909; its best national rank was #2,185 in 1909.

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 Sella?

Sella 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 663,000; 5 of 3,314,783 births
Among girls only: 1 in 321,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2023: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 459,528 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Sella 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 459,528 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Sella. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Sellas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Sella was born before 1916 — so the typical Sella is around 109 today.

Median birth year: 1916; About 109 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 38.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 38.5%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 10; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 38.5% of all recorded uses (10).

Is Sella 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 1909 (6)
Years since peak: 116; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Not enough data; Too few years
Best rank ever: #2,185; 1909

Spellings of Sella

Sella is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 15.4% against Sella's <0.01%.

Kelly15.4%473,965
Ella11.4%351,313
Sheila7.8%238,774
Stella6.7%206,906
Sally6.7%205,229
Velma2.8%86,752
Shelly2.7%84,420
Bella2.7%83,721

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.

Sella 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: #2,185; 1909
Peak year: 1909; 6 that year
First recorded: 1909
Last recorded: 2023
All-time count: 26
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Sella

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

Selaya Selima Selani Selayah Selen Selva Amella Selest Selvi Seleah Raella Gaella Selba Selana Selyse Amilla Sellers Selica Selome Selyne Scylla Selda Seleen Selvia

Sibling names for Sella

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

Golda Lauretta Era Leatha Leone Mayme Artie Alpha

For a brother

Gustave Waldo Orrin Winfield Dorsey Isadore Aloysius Hyman

Explore around Sella

Top names of 1909, Sella's peak year The 1900s in full Other names that peaked in 1909 Girls' names starting with S