Estela
Estela was given to 128 girls in 2025, #1,624 among girls’ names; 9,147 Americans have been recorded with it since 1903 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,110 Americans named Estela and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (78% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 19 and 61.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Estela by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Estela mean?
Wiktionary, Spanish section
Estela is “a female given name, equivalent to English Estella or Stella”
/esˈtela/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Spanish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Estela?
#1,624 among girls’ names, 2025
Estela rose from #2,044 in 2015 to #1,624 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 53.8 to 79.6 per million.
134 babies in 2022, the peak
Estela peaked in 2022, when 134 girls were given it, #1,585 among girls’ names. The 128 births of 2025 are 96% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 128 | #1,624 | 79.6 |
| 2024 | 115 | #1,757 | 71.0 |
| 2023 | 133 | #1,584 | 82.9 |
| 2022 | 134 | #1,585 | 81.7 |
| 2021 | 112 | #1,809 | 68.3 |
| 2020 | 96 | #1,966 | 59.4 |
| 2019 | 126 | #1,672 | 75.1 |
| 2018 | 87 | #2,168 | 51.1 |
| 2017 | 95 | #2,060 | 55.0 |
| 2016 | 73 | #2,492 | 41.2 |
Every recorded year (120)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 96 | #2,044 | 53.8 |
| 2014 | 76 | #2,397 | 42.5 |
| 2013 | 68 | #2,609 | 38.8 |
| 2012 | 88 | #2,153 | 50.0 |
| 2011 | 88 | #2,162 | 50.0 |
| 2010 | 75 | #2,482 | 42.2 |
| 2009 | 81 | #2,382 | 44.1 |
| 2008 | 84 | #2,323 | 44.4 |
| 2007 | 86 | #2,260 | 44.7 |
| 2006 | 73 | #2,520 | 38.4 |
| 2005 | 74 | #2,382 | 40.0 |
| 2004 | 82 | #2,180 | 44.7 |
| 2003 | 89 | #2,019 | 48.7 |
| 2002 | 83 | #2,065 | 46.2 |
| 2001 | 89 | #1,940 | 49.4 |
| 2000 | 98 | #1,777 | 54.0 |
| 1999 | 88 | #1,812 | 49.6 |
| 1998 | 89 | #1,764 | 50.4 |
| 1997 | 99 | #1,606 | 56.9 |
| 1996 | 97 | #1,599 | 55.3 |
| 1995 | 86 | #1,702 | 48.9 |
| 1994 | 80 | #1,797 | 44.8 |
| 1993 | 92 | #1,642 | 50.9 |
| 1992 | 92 | #1,645 | 49.9 |
| 1991 | 96 | #1,580 | 51.2 |
| 1990 | 120 | #1,333 | 63.2 |
| 1989 | 86 | #1,614 | 46.6 |
| 1988 | 81 | #1,605 | 45.5 |
| 1987 | 83 | #1,536 | 47.7 |
| 1986 | 80 | #1,527 | 46.6 |
| 1985 | 78 | #1,555 | 45.3 |
| 1984 | 79 | #1,465 | 46.9 |
| 1983 | 83 | #1,415 | 49.7 |
| 1982 | 94 | #1,327 | 55.5 |
| 1981 | 105 | #1,241 | 62.9 |
| 1980 | 100 | #1,277 | 60.2 |
| 1979 | 114 | #1,163 | 71.0 |
| 1978 | 80 | #1,440 | 52.2 |
| 1977 | 95 | #1,258 | 62.0 |
| 1976 | 106 | #1,127 | 72.4 |
| 1975 | 81 | #1,334 | 55.6 |
| 1974 | 102 | #1,138 | 69.5 |
| 1973 | 92 | #1,176 | 63.1 |
| 1972 | 93 | #1,164 | 61.1 |
| 1971 | 89 | #1,245 | 53.5 |
| 1970 | 77 | #1,360 | 44.0 |
| 1969 | 79 | #1,261 | 46.8 |
| 1968 | 82 | #1,200 | 50.0 |
| 1967 | 89 | #1,107 | 53.9 |
| 1966 | 63 | #1,390 | 37.2 |
| 1965 | 90 | #1,113 | 51.0 |
| 1964 | 91 | #1,158 | 48.0 |
| 1963 | 81 | #1,222 | 42.0 |
| 1962 | 79 | #1,238 | 40.2 |
| 1961 | 74 | #1,289 | 36.7 |
| 1960 | 74 | #1,283 | 36.6 |
| 1959 | 97 | #1,081 | 47.9 |
| 1958 | 99 | #1,051 | 49.2 |
| 1957 | 95 | #1,067 | 46.5 |
| 1956 | 81 | #1,151 | 40.3 |
| 1955 | 118 | #901 | 60.3 |
| 1954 | 100 | #974 | 51.5 |
| 1953 | 94 | #987 | 50.0 |
| 1952 | 121 | #832 | 65.3 |
| 1951 | 93 | #960 | 51.6 |
| 1950 | 109 | #841 | 63.6 |
| 1949 | 124 | #775 | 72.5 |
| 1948 | 92 | #907 | 54.2 |
| 1947 | 61 | #1,153 | 34.4 |
| 1946 | 86 | #898 | 54.7 |
| 1945 | 62 | #981 | 47.4 |
| 1944 | 78 | #864 | 58.8 |
| 1943 | 62 | #1,009 | 44.4 |
| 1942 | 54 | #1,069 | 40.0 |
| 1941 | 53 | #1,008 | 43.9 |
| 1940 | 48 | #1,040 | 42.0 |
| 1939 | 70 | #829 | 63.8 |
| 1938 | 60 | #916 | 54.4 |
| 1937 | 55 | #934 | 51.7 |
| 1936 | 67 | #820 | 64.4 |
| 1935 | 50 | #977 | 47.7 |
| 1934 | 80 | #746 | 76.6 |
| 1933 | 59 | #882 | 58.5 |
| 1932 | 82 | #745 | 76.8 |
| 1931 | 70 | #814 | 65.7 |
| 1930 | 68 | #868 | 60.4 |
| 1929 | 78 | #799 | 69.9 |
| 1928 | 73 | #847 | 63.3 |
| 1927 | 72 | #878 | 60.4 |
| 1926 | 63 | #945 | 53.1 |
| 1925 | 67 | #908 | 55.0 |
| 1924 | 40 | #1,262 | 32.0 |
| 1923 | 47 | #1,117 | 39.0 |
| 1922 | 37 | #1,293 | 30.8 |
| 1921 | 51 | #1,061 | 41.4 |
| 1920 | 40 | #1,215 | 33.4 |
| 1919 | 31 | #1,401 | 27.4 |
| 1918 | 34 | #1,307 | 29.4 |
| 1917 | 37 | #1,190 | 34.2 |
| 1916 | 15 | #2,167 | 14.4 |
| 1915 | 24 | #1,490 | 24.4 |
| 1914 | 13 | #1,943 | 17.1 |
| 1913 | 16 | #1,485 | 25.6 |
| 1912 | 8 | #2,216 | 14.3 |
| 1911 | 11 | #1,484 | 26.3 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,228 | 15.1 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,164 | 15.7 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,804 | 20.3 |
| 1905 | 6 | #1,773 | 20.6 |
| 1903 | 11 | #1,087 | 42.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Estela a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Estela has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 120 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Estela: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Estela, and how old are they?
7,110 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 78% of the 9,147 Americans ever recorded as Estela. The median Estela alive today is 39 years old; half are between 19 and 61.
The 2020 Census counted 23,239 people named Estela (23,186 women and girls, 53 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,831 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.4 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 | 333 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,370 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,330 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,390 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,350 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,330 |
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 Estela born?
The states with the most babies named Estela are California, Texas and Florida, with 81% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 37 | #804 | 3.1× |
| Texas | 26 | #1,074 | 5.0× |
| Florida | 9 | #1,469 | 0.4× |
| New York | 6 | #1,896 | 0.1× |
| Arizona | 6 | #954 | 0.3× |
| Alabama | 5 | #861 | 0.0× |
Where Estela is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Estela is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 5.0 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 Estela 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 108,691 babies since 1880, Estela is the third most given (8.4% of them). In 2025 it was given to 128 of their 1,232 babies (10%), again the third 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 Estela
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1900-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Lucila | 2,483 | |
| Zoila | 1,904 | |
| Evangelina | 10,319 |
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 Estela and names like it
- Compare Estela and EstelleBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sEstela peaked in 2022.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Estela since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Estela: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2022The year the most babies were named Estela.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Estela alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with EMost given first.