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Ella Baby girl name meaning, origin, and popularity

Ella name meaning and origin

Ella is a short and flowy name with multiple known meanings, depending on which origin you consider. Some sources say the name comes from an old German word alia, meaning "all," or alja meaning "other," while others point to modern Hebrew, where Ella means "goddess," and also "terebinth tree." And Ella is a Spanish personal pronoun meaning "she" and "her." Ella is most commonly pronounced "el-luh."

Though sometimes used as a pet form of Ellen or a nickname for Eleanor, Elizabeth, Isabella, or even Gabriella, Ella has stood alone as a given name since the Dark Ages. At that point in time, Ella was actually a male name, borne by three different Anglo-Saxon kings, including King Aella of Northumbria.

In Greek mythology, Aella is the name of an Amazon daughter of Ares and Harmonia. So who was the first female Ella on record? Archival birth registries show one lone baby girl named Ella born in Nurnberg, Germany in 1497.

While Ella hasn 't hit the top ten baby names for girls – yet – this name could win a prize for consistency. It has been in the top 20 baby girl names on the Social Security Administration's list for the past 13 years, peaking at spot 15. Ella 's ranking is similar on BabyCenter, where it's in the top 20 girls ' names. (BabyCenter's ranking is based on data from hundreds of thousands of parents who share their baby 's name with us.)

Aside from a drop in the seventies, eighties, and early nineties, Ella has been popular in the United States for the past hundred-plus years. Ella's popularity grew by 50 percent from year to year between 2001 and 2004, when the movie Ella Enchanted was released.

Ella is similar to other popular girl names ending in a, such as Emma, Sofia, Olivia, Ava, and Bella. Variations of Ella include Elah and Ela. Ella is also quite flexible and can be used in compound names like Ella-Mae, Ella- Marie, Ella-Rose, Ella-Grace, Ella-Rae, Ella-Louise, Ella-Jade, and Ella-Jane.

This short and sweet name easily translates between cultures, and has been embraced in numerous countries, including Germany, Belgium, Great Britain, Australia, and Switzerland. And though it 's short, Ella lends itself to many endearing nicknames, including:

  • Ellie
  • Elle
  • Elly
  • Elsie

Ella's flexibility and melodic, vowel-heavy sound make it a winner for parents looking for a name that 's simple and elegant.

Ella name popularity

Popularity over time

babies per million
Source: Social Security Administration & BabyCenter user data

Ella in pop culture

Ella Enchanted
2004 movie starring Anne Hathaway
Ella
Main character in the musical Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella
Ella Lopez
Character in the television show Lucifer
Ella
Golden Retriever in the television show Paw Patrol
Aella
Amazon featured in Greek mythology, fought Heracles with a double axe
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Famous people named Ella

Aella of Northumbria
King of medieval English kingdom of Northumbria, appears in Geoffrey Chaucer 's The Man of Law's Tale
Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Late nineteenth century American poet and author, wrote "laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone"
Ella Josephine Baker
Civil rights activist who worked alongside W.E.B. DuBois and Martin Luther King
Ella Fitzgerald
Renown American jazz singer, won 14 Grammy Awards
Ella Mae Morse
1940s jazz, blues, and country singer, considered the first rock-and-roll singer
Ella M.S. Marble
Doctor of medicine, suffragette, early 20th century women 's rights activist
Ella Young
Irish/American poet and teacher of Celtic mythology, detained at Ellis Island in 1925 for believing in fairies
Ella Havelka
First indigenous ballet dancer to be a member of the Australian Ballet
Ella Rose Emhof
stepdaughter of Vice President Kamala Harris, member of the U.S. second family

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