Bella
Bella was given to 2,129 girls in 2025, #136 among girls’ names; 83,766 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 78,600 Americans named Bella and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 12 years old and half are between 7 and 16.
Bella came back: it left the girls’ top 1,000 after 1931 and returned in 2000.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bella by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Bella mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Bella is “a female given name from Italian.” Its etymology gives the sense “beautiful” (bella).
From Italian: a diminutive of Isabella and Arabella, by folk etymology interpreted as bella (“beautiful”).
/ˈbɛlə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Bella?
#136 among girls’ names, 2025
Bella fell from #74 in 2015 to #136 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 2.1 to 1.3 per 1,000.
5,144 babies in 2010, the peak
Bella peaked in 2010, when 5,144 babies were given it (5,136 girls, #48 among girls’ names). The 2,129 births of 2025 are 41% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2,129 | #136 | 1.3 |
| 2024 | 2,479 | #109 | 1.5 |
| 2023 | 2,566 | #104 | 1.6 |
| 2022 | 2,915 | #85 | 1.8 |
| 2021 | 3,369 | #73 | 2.1 |
| 2020 | 3,649 | #63 | 2.3 |
| 2019 | 4,399 | #50 | 2.6 |
| 2018 | 4,578 | #48 | 2.7 |
| 2017 | 4,667 | #50 | 2.7 |
| 2016 | 3,685 | #78 | 2.1 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 3,814 | #74 | 2.1 |
| 2014 | 4,107 | #70 | 2.3 |
| 2013 | 4,190 | #58 | 2.4 |
| 2012 | 4,362 | #54 | 2.5 |
| 2011 | 4,280 | #60 | 2.4 |
| 2010 | 5,136 | #48 | 2.9 |
| 2009 | 4,540 | #58 | 2.5 |
| 2008 | 2,788 | #122 | 1.5 |
| 2007 | 2,260 | #157 | 1.2 |
| 2006 | 1,959 | #181 | 1.0 |
| 2005 | 1,664 | #208 | 0.90 |
| 2004 | 1,240 | #260 | 0.68 |
| 2003 | 974 | #317 | 0.53 |
| 2002 | 683 | #426 | 0.38 |
| 2001 | 413 | #609 | 0.23 |
| 2000 | 307 | #749 | 0.17 |
| 1999 | 185 | #1,083 | 0.10 |
| 1998 | 156 | #1,189 | 0.09 |
| 1997 | 95 | #1,656 | 0.05 |
| 1996 | 72 | #1,964 | 0.04 |
| 1995 | 107 | #1,480 | 0.06 |
| 1994 | 76 | #1,861 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 49 | #2,532 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 39 | #2,978 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 47 | #2,590 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 28 | #3,718 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 17 | #5,065 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 20 | #4,326 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 19 | #4,298 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 17 | #4,555 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 23 | #3,630 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 19 | #4,008 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 22 | #3,562 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 22 | #3,660 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 19 | #4,018 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 17 | #4,340 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 25 | #3,250 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 19 | #3,789 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 26 | #3,007 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 18 | #3,688 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 29 | #2,618 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 19 | #3,440 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 28 | #2,568 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 19 | #3,288 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 21 | #3,175 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 32 | #2,358 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 18 | #3,207 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 24 | #2,545 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 16 | #3,215 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 16 | #3,153 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 34 | #1,997 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 21 | #2,753 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 22 | #2,628 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 24 | #2,468 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 22 | #2,612 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 30 | #2,103 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 24 | #2,347 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 34 | #1,874 | 0.02 |
| 1957 | 24 | #2,279 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 25 | #2,196 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 41 | #1,598 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 28 | #1,989 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 43 | #1,492 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 36 | #1,612 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 29 | #1,805 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 21 | #2,125 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 30 | #1,738 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 26 | #1,861 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 43 | #1,413 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 23 | #1,922 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 13 | #2,475 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 16 | #2,211 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 16 | #2,262 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 22 | #1,809 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 27 | #1,505 | 0.02 |
| 1940 | 19 | #1,851 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 25 | #1,515 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,815 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 19 | #1,788 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 29 | #1,347 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 28 | #1,382 | 0.03 |
| 1934 | 45 | #1,035 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 37 | #1,161 | 0.04 |
| 1932 | 47 | #1,032 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 50 | #985 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 64 | #909 | 0.06 |
| 1929 | 83 | #766 | 0.07 |
| 1928 | 73 | #846 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 90 | #762 | 0.08 |
| 1926 | 106 | #703 | 0.09 |
| 1925 | 133 | #635 | 0.11 |
| 1924 | 134 | #648 | 0.11 |
| 1923 | 172 | #549 | 0.14 |
| 1922 | 178 | #528 | 0.15 |
| 1921 | 192 | #509 | 0.16 |
| 1920 | 188 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1919 | 211 | #458 | 0.19 |
| 1918 | 238 | #428 | 0.21 |
| 1917 | 215 | #439 | 0.20 |
| 1916 | 207 | #438 | 0.20 |
| 1915 | 160 | #485 | 0.16 |
| 1914 | 152 | #443 | 0.20 |
| 1913 | 125 | #442 | 0.20 |
| 1912 | 113 | #442 | 0.20 |
| 1911 | 82 | #450 | 0.20 |
| 1910 | 73 | #467 | 0.18 |
| 1909 | 75 | #427 | 0.22 |
| 1908 | 65 | #449 | 0.19 |
| 1907 | 60 | #463 | 0.19 |
| 1906 | 54 | #463 | 0.18 |
| 1905 | 52 | #473 | 0.18 |
| 1904 | 43 | #500 | 0.16 |
| 1903 | 44 | #482 | 0.17 |
| 1902 | 53 | #426 | 0.20 |
| 1901 | 36 | #509 | 0.15 |
| 1900 | 73 | #389 | 0.24 |
| 1899 | 53 | #398 | 0.23 |
| 1898 | 39 | #493 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 44 | #443 | 0.19 |
| 1896 | 43 | #441 | 0.18 |
| 1895 | 39 | #465 | 0.17 |
| 1894 | 35 | #476 | 0.16 |
| 1893 | 46 | #395 | 0.22 |
| 1892 | 53 | #365 | 0.25 |
| 1891 | 37 | #405 | 0.20 |
| 1890 | 42 | #385 | 0.22 |
| 1889 | 37 | #398 | 0.21 |
| 1888 | 31 | #443 | 0.17 |
| 1887 | 26 | #436 | 0.18 |
| 1886 | 22 | #460 | 0.15 |
| 1885 | 25 | #414 | 0.19 |
| 1884 | 31 | #358 | 0.24 |
| 1883 | 17 | #465 | 0.15 |
| 1882 | 16 | #459 | 0.15 |
| 1881 | 24 | #325 | 0.26 |
| 1880 | 13 | #469 | 0.14 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Bella a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Bella has been given almost only to girls: 45 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Bella: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bella, and how old are they?
78,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 83,766 Americans ever recorded as Bella. The median Bella alive today is 12 years old; half are between 7 and 16.
The 2020 Census counted 66,739 people named Bella (66,558 women and girls, 181 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 62,757 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 132 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 420 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 335 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 582 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 30,800 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 46,300 |
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 Bella born?
The states with the most babies named Bella are California, Texas and Florida, with 36% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 319 | #95 | 1.3× |
| Texas | 235 | #133 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 218 | #71 | 1.2× |
| New York | 142 | #104 | 1.2× |
| New Jersey | 82 | #85 | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 77 | #126 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 75 | #139 | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 64 | #159 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 56 | #176 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 55 | #205 | 0.7× |
Where Bella is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Bella is most over-represented in Nevada: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
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 Bella 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, Bella is the most given (46% of them). In 2025 it was given to 2,129 of their 2,433 babies (88%), again the most given.
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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Bella
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Bella and names like it
- Compare Bella and BeulahBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sBella peaked in 2010.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bella since 1910.
- Italian namesWiktionary’s origin for Bella: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2010The year the most babies were named Bella.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Bella alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.