Name Awesome

Zella

#1,746 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning uncertain in the cited reference

Zella has been given to 13,369 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #1,746 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1917, with 298 recorded.

Babies named Zella, 2025

1 in 28,300

Zella over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Zella: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning uncertain in the cited reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Zella means

Zella is a given name.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 13,369 girls were recorded with the name Zella between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 298 in 1917; its best national rank was #220 in 1888.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,667 in 2020 to #1,746 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,469 in 2015 to #1,746 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.

How common is Zella?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 28,300
117 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 13,700
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,746
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
19,641 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Zella 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 19,641 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Zella. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Zellas were born

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

Median birth year
1925
About 100 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
17.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
17.8%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
3,475
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 17.1% of all recorded uses (2,287).

Is Zella 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
+105
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−79
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−277
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.75×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
39.3%
Peak was 1917 (298)
Years since peak
108
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
17.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#220
1888

Spellings of Zella

Zella is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 20.5% against Zella's 0.58%.

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 Zella is used

Across 2016–2025, Zella was most concentrated in Idaho — about 1 in 5,882 girls, against 1 in 14,020 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in 50,000).

217 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Idaho1 in 5,882
  2. 2Oregon1 in 5,882
  3. 3Tennessee1 in 5,882
  4. 4Missouri1 in 6,250
  5. 5Ohio1 in 7,143
  6. 6Indiana1 in 7,692
  7. 7Utah1 in 7,692
  8. 8Illinois1 in 10,000

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.

Zella around the world

Where Zella 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
    2020–2025
    #4,867
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2015–2024
    #2,463
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2003–2006
    #782
    in 2006

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Zella

People whose public names include Zella, 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.

Zella by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,746
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 79
Best rank ever
#220
1888
Peak year
1917
298 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
13,369
Count in 2025
117

Names similar to Zella

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

ZeldaZelmaWillaLillaZelieCallaNellaZeliaIdellaLouellaAdellaRillaBriellaLuellaDellaRosellaVellaMillaBellaJoellaAriellaNoellaNovellaRella

Names with a curve like Zella

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

WilhelminaLeoraAgathaOnaUnaLettieDessieWinnieHesterGeorgieBertieMaudie

Sibling names for Zella

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 Zella

Top names of 1917, Zella's peak yearThe 1910s in fullOther names that peaked in 1888More old lady namesGirls' names starting with Z