Tella

Girls' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Tella has been given to 54 babies in the U.S. since 1880. 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 1989, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Tella, 1989

1 in 349,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Tella: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Tella means

Tella is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Tella is used in English.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 54 girls were recorded with the name Tella between 1880 and 1989. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1989; its best national rank was #930 in 1880.

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 Tella?

Tella had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1989, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1989: 1 in 349,000; 11 of 3,842,268 births
Among girls only: 1 in 167,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1989: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 242,115 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Tella 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 1989 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 242,115 children born in 1989 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Tella. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Tellas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Tella was born before 1925 — so the typical Tella is around 100 today.

Median birth year: 1925; About 100 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 33.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 29.6%; Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950: 16; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 33.3% of all recorded uses (18).

Is Tella 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 1989 (11)
Years since peak: 36; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 120.0% average annual change
Best rank ever: #930; 1880

Spellings of Tella

Tella is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 17.3% against Tella's <0.01%.

Kelly17.3%473,965
Ella12.8%351,313
Thelma8.2%225,460
Stella7.6%206,906
Velma3.2%86,752
Bella3.1%83,721
Kelli2.7%74,891
Della2.6%70,810

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.

Tella 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: #930; 1880
Peak year: 1989; 11 that year
First recorded: 1880
Last recorded: 1989
All-time count: 54
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Tella

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

Telani Telsa Telma Telly Telah Teller Tellie Myella Maella Ryella Scylla Diella Amilla Teliah Miella Azella Telia Raella Kylla Telesa Telayah Wylla Ulla Rolla

Sibling names for Tella

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

Stephani Ashli Felisha Jalisa Britany Chantelle Leandra Lissette

For a brother

Elizabeth Kelsey Garrick Lauren Hakeem Demario Jerrell Arron

Explore around Tella

Top names of 1989, Tella's peak year The 1980s in full Other names that peaked in 1880 Girls' names starting with T