ninan.org

Ella

Girls' name · Current perennial

Living in the US
~227,700 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#29 among girls
Births in 2025
5,831 352,214 since 1880
Typical age
15 years, median

Ella popularity over time

Ella rank by birth year, 1880–2025Ella ranked #13 in 1880 and #29 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #12, in 2011.#100#1,000#29best #12 in 201118901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

2010 is the peak year for Ella, with 9,898 births. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. Ella has spent 73 years inside the national top 100.

As of 2025 the name sits at #29, with 5,831 births that year. Compared with 2015, births are down 26%.

Babies named Ella per yearPeaks at 9,898 births in 2010.9,898 in 2010018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Ella?

About 227,700 people named Ella are alive in the United States today. SSA has recorded 352,214 births under the name since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Ella?

Half of living Ellas are older than 15, half younger. The 2010s produced the largest surviving cohort. By the site’s era rules that makes Ella a current perennial name.

Your Ella

Ages of living people named EllaHalf of living Ellas are older than 15 and half younger.median 15020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Ella is most common

Vermont uses the name 2.8× as often as the country as a whole. Wyoming, North Dakota and Rhode Island follow.

Where Ella is used more than average5 states use the name Ella more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: 2.0× the national rateMEVermont: 2.8× the national rateVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: 2.2× the national rateNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: 2.3× the national rateWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: 2.2× the national rateRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Ella is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Vermont 138 2.8×
Wyoming 104 2.3×
North Dakota 288 2.2×
Rhode Island 267 2.2×
Maine 298 2.0×

Ella in England and Wales

In England and Wales, Ella ranked #46 in 2025 on 932 births. That is 51% lower than five years earlier.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Ella comes from

A 19th-century shortening of Eleanor or Ellen, later also used for any name ending in -ella, such as Gabriella or Daniella. Similar abbreviations have been formed independently in many European languages, for any name containing the syllable -el-, e.g.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Ella

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Ella Fitzgerald American jazz singer 1917–1996 100
Ella Purnell English-born British actress 1996 43
Ella Baker African-American civil rights and human rights activist 1903–1986 33
Ella Balinska English actress 1996 32
Ella Wheeler Wilcox American author and poet 1850–1919 29
Ella Henderson British singer 1996 29
Ella Toone English association football player 1999 28
Ella Raines American actress 1920–1988 27
Photo credits (8)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 1,722 in 2001 to 3,567 in 2002 — 2.1 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Ella

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Ella was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/ella.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).