Ella

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ela in TR Türkiye, SY Syria, IN India and Ელა in GE Georgia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 23 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Ella is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Finnish given name75K records spelled Ella4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, Philippines

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Êllà, Ellä

• Russian given name65K records spelled Ella60 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, Czechia, Croatia

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Czech

  Also written Элла, Елла, Ela, Эла, Ела

• a separate given name30K records spelled Ella5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Ėlla, Èlla, Ellå, Élla

• Indonesian given name17K records spelled Ella7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Ella, Ëllã, Ellá, Ëllä, Ellã

• Hindi given name9.1K records spelled Ella6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in India, United States, United Kingdom, Philippines

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written Ellä, Ĕllä, Ellà, Èlla

76 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Ella is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Short form of names like Eleanor, Ellen, Elisabeth; often linked to Greek or Hebrew roots.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• Short form of erisaBETH, Germanic names beginning with El]-, or GABRIELLA.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In Finnish, a female given name, similar to English Ella

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Ella är ursprungligen en smekform till namn som → Eleonora, → Elisabeth, → Ellen, → Gabriella. Namnet har varit ett av de populäraste tilltalsnamnen under de senaste årtiondena. En känd namnbärare var den amerikanska jazzsångerskan Ella Fitzgerald (1917–96). I den rikssvenska almanackan 19 februari och i den finlandssvenska 10 feb ruari.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, weibl. Vom., Kurzform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ella Wheeler Wilcoxb. 1850USAmerican author and poet (1850–1919)
• Mary Roberts Rinehartb. 1876USnot in their usual nameAmerican mystery writer (1876–1958)
• Babe Didrikson Zahariasb. 1911USnot in their usual nameAmerican golfer and athlete
• Ella Fitzgeraldb. 1917USAmerican jazz singer (1917–1996)
• Ella Pamfilovab. 1953RURussian politician
• Ella Hendersonb. 1996GBBritish singer
• Ella Purnellb. 1996GBEnglish-born British actress (born 1996)
• Lordeb. 1996NZnot in their usual nameNew Zealand singer, songwriter and producer (born 1996)
• Ella Balinskab. 1996GBEnglish actress
• Ella Bleu Travoltab. 2000USAmerican actress, daughter of John Travolta

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,423 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ella?

We estimate roughly 266 thousand people bear Ella (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Ella have the most bearers?

We estimate about 185 thousand people bear Ella in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled ella.

Where is Ella most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Ella is densest in Finland — about 1 in 363 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Ella compared with other names?

In the United States, Ella is the 576th most common given name of 3,122,706 given names recorded there.

Is Ella a male or female name?

Ella is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Ella mean?

Recorded meaning: Feminine form of Elie; from Hebrew, meaning ‘my master is God’.