Bela
Bela was given to 21 girls in 2025, #5,748 among girls’ names; 1,295 Americans have been recorded with it since 1912 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,070 Americans named Bela and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (82% of everyone recorded); the median is 18 years old and half are between 10 and 25.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bela by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Bela mean?
Wiktionary, Portuguese section
Bela is “a female given name, equivalent to English Bella”
/ˈbɛ.lɐ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Portuguese section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Bela?
#5,748 among girls’ names, 2025
Bela rose from #7,331 in 2015 to #5,748 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 9.0 to 13.1 per million.
49 babies in 2008, the peak
Bela peaked in 2008, when 49 babies were given it (43 girls, #3,719 among girls’ names). The 21 births of 2025 are 43% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 21 | #5,748 | under 5 | |
| 2024 | 30 | #4,576 | under 5 | |
| 2023 | 37 | #3,994 | under 5 | |
| 2022 | 30 | #4,601 | 8 | #9,078 |
| 2021 | 31 | #4,422 | under 5 | |
| 2020 | 19 | #6,115 | under 5 | |
| 2019 | 27 | #4,928 | under 5 | |
| 2018 | 16 | #7,156 | 5 | #12,386 |
| 2017 | 22 | #5,687 | 6 | #10,939 |
| 2016 | 25 | #5,303 | 6 | #10,900 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,331 | 7 | #9,684 |
| 2014 | 38 | #3,932 | 6 | #10,863 |
| 2013 | 28 | #4,917 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 41 | #3,793 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 34 | #4,262 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 44 | #3,581 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 30 | #4,821 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 43 | #3,719 | 6 | #11,214 |
| 2007 | 34 | #4,389 | 11 | #7,147 |
| 2006 | 34 | #4,273 | 5 | #12,241 |
| 2005 | 26 | #4,974 | 12 | #6,258 |
| 2004 | 23 | #5,394 | 13 | #5,840 |
| 2003 | 21 | #5,608 | 7 | #8,751 |
| 2002 | 15 | #7,092 | 10 | #6,579 |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,658 | 5 | #10,737 |
| 2000 | 16 | #6,523 | 9 | #6,896 |
| 1999 | 10 | #8,874 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 11 | #8,067 | 5 | #9,773 |
| 1997 | 11 | #7,819 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 5 | #13,776 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 5 | #13,669 | 6 | #7,890 |
| 1993 | under 5 | 5 | #8,822 | |
| 1992 | under 5 | 6 | #7,504 | |
| 1989 | 6 | #10,987 | 5 | #8,009 |
| 1985 | under 5 | 7 | #5,191 | |
| 1983 | under 5 | 5 | #6,332 | |
| 1980 | under 5 | 8 | #4,536 | |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,105 | 5 | #6,137 |
| 1974 | 5 | #8,888 | 5 | #5,285 |
| 1973 | 6 | #7,509 | 8 | #3,733 |
| 1972 | under 5 | 5 | #5,057 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 10 | #3,088 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 9 | #2,789 | |
| 1966 | under 5 | 6 | #3,565 | |
| 1965 | under 5 | 10 | #2,634 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 9 | #2,873 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 10 | #2,683 | |
| 1962 | under 5 | 13 | #2,289 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 10 | #2,721 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 9 | #2,887 | |
| 1959 | under 5 | 10 | #2,675 | |
| 1958 | under 5 | 12 | #2,378 | |
| 1957 | under 5 | 5 | #4,027 | |
| 1955 | under 5 | 7 | #3,222 | |
| 1953 | under 5 | 6 | #3,457 | |
| 1952 | under 5 | 7 | #3,118 | |
| 1947 | under 5 | 8 | #2,889 | |
| 1946 | under 5 | 6 | #3,201 | |
| 1943 | under 5 | 6 | #3,251 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 5 | #3,711 | |
| 1932 | under 5 | 5 | #3,822 | |
| 1929 | under 5 | 5 | #4,005 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 7 | #3,386 | |
| 1927 | under 5 | 8 | #3,175 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 7 | #3,412 | |
| 1925 | under 5 | 12 | #2,446 | |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,036 | under 5 | |
| 1923 | 5 | #5,043 | 7 | #3,500 |
| 1922 | under 5 | 11 | #2,642 | |
| 1921 | 6 | #4,522 | 6 | #3,906 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,060 | 5 | #4,348 |
| 1919 | under 5 | 7 | #3,426 | |
| 1918 | under 5 | 14 | #2,170 | |
| 1917 | under 5 | 9 | #2,750 | |
| 1916 | under 5 | 13 | #2,161 | |
| 1915 | under 5 | 13 | #2,075 | |
| 1914 | under 5 | 7 | #2,673 | |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,237 | under 5 | |
| 1912 | under 5 | 5 | #2,576 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Bela a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,295 Americans recorded as Bela, 63% are girls and 37% boys. In 2025 it went to 21 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Bela: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bela, and how old are they?
1,070 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 82% of the 1,295 Americans ever recorded as Bela. The median Bela alive today is 18 years old; half are between 10 and 25.
The 2020 Census counted 2,579 people named Bela (1,684 women and girls, 895 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 916 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.8 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 79 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 74 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 48 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 487 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 376 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Bela born?
The states with the most babies named Bela are California, Texas and New York, with 96% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 102 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| New York | 15 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Florida | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Bela with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 181,742 babies since 1880, Bela is the fifth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 21 of their 2,433 babies (<1%), the third most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Bela and names like it
- Compare Bela and BellaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sBela peaked in 2008.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bela since 1910.
- Portuguese namesWiktionary’s origin for Bela: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2008The year the most babies were named Bela.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Bela alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with BMost given first.