Isela
Isela was given to 100 girls in 2025, #1,935 among girls’ names; 5,925 Americans have been recorded with it since 1926 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,690 Americans named Isela and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 17 and 44.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Isela by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Isela mean?
Wiktionary, Spanish section
Isela is “a female given name”
Probably a variant of Isabel or Isabella.
/iˈsela/
Meaning: Wiktionary, Spanish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Isela?
#1,935 among girls’ names, 2025
Isela rose from #2,533 in 2015 to #1,935 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 39.8 to 62.2 per million.
196 babies in 1998, the peak
Isela peaked in 1998, when 196 girls were given it, #1,016 among girls’ names. The 100 births of 2025 are 51% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 100 | #1,935 | 0.06 |
| 2024 | 108 | #1,860 | 0.07 |
| 2023 | 113 | #1,796 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 113 | #1,809 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 63 | #2,735 | 0.04 |
| 2020 | 103 | #1,874 | 0.06 |
| 2019 | 85 | #2,180 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 90 | #2,121 | 0.05 |
| 2017 | 77 | #2,367 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 85 | #2,255 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (90)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 71 | #2,533 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 62 | #2,791 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 67 | #2,641 | 0.04 |
| 2012 | 75 | #2,460 | 0.04 |
| 2011 | 73 | #2,491 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 91 | #2,157 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 95 | #2,125 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 126 | #1,758 | 0.07 |
| 2007 | 144 | #1,571 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 146 | #1,509 | 0.08 |
| 2005 | 189 | #1,211 | 0.10 |
| 2004 | 118 | #1,649 | 0.06 |
| 2003 | 117 | #1,645 | 0.06 |
| 2002 | 99 | #1,807 | 0.06 |
| 2001 | 128 | #1,469 | 0.07 |
| 2000 | 150 | #1,287 | 0.08 |
| 1999 | 132 | #1,342 | 0.07 |
| 1998 | 196 | #1,016 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 124 | #1,378 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 109 | #1,492 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 121 | #1,358 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 120 | #1,373 | 0.07 |
| 1993 | 90 | #1,667 | 0.05 |
| 1992 | 99 | #1,563 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 85 | #1,710 | 0.05 |
| 1990 | 77 | #1,848 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 83 | #1,651 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 42 | #2,552 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 64 | #1,822 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 70 | #1,675 | 0.04 |
| 1985 | 66 | #1,730 | 0.04 |
| 1984 | 51 | #2,000 | 0.03 |
| 1983 | 61 | #1,755 | 0.04 |
| 1982 | 81 | #1,478 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 97 | #1,307 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 89 | #1,401 | 0.05 |
| 1979 | 96 | #1,304 | 0.06 |
| 1978 | 107 | #1,177 | 0.07 |
| 1977 | 98 | #1,233 | 0.06 |
| 1976 | 110 | #1,099 | 0.08 |
| 1975 | 115 | #1,040 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 98 | #1,161 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 70 | #1,410 | 0.05 |
| 1972 | 89 | #1,208 | 0.06 |
| 1971 | 88 | #1,257 | 0.05 |
| 1970 | 32 | #2,370 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 49 | #1,742 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 29 | #2,268 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 23 | #2,583 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 19 | #2,876 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 11 | #4,038 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 22 | #2,704 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 15 | #3,388 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 20 | #2,762 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 27 | #2,319 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 17 | #3,025 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 14 | #3,318 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 19 | #2,698 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 10 | #4,037 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 18 | #2,758 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,452 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 13 | #3,216 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 19 | #2,458 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 10 | #3,649 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 14 | #2,854 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 15 | #2,709 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 11 | #3,265 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 12 | #3,048 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 8 | #4,130 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,658 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 7 | #3,797 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #3,505 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,964 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 8 | #3,374 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 5 | #4,534 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 5 | #4,487 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,698 | under 0.01 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,657 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 5 | #5,032 | under 0.01 |
| 1926 | 7 | #4,058 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Isela a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Isela has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 90 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Isela: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Isela, and how old are they?
5,690 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 5,925 Americans ever recorded as Isela. The median Isela alive today is 28 years old; half are between 17 and 44.
The 2020 Census counted 7,956 people named Isela (7,937 women and girls, 19 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,180 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.5 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 | 20 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 224 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,050 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,280 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,980 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,130 |
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 Isela born?
The states with the most babies named Isela are California, Texas and Arizona, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Arizona is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 26 | #1,038 | 2.8× |
| Texas | 24 | #1,134 | 3.4× |
| Arizona | 11 | #603 | 2.6× |
Where Isela is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Isela is most over-represented in Texas: since 1926 it was given 3.4 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 Isela 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 65,918 babies since 1880, Isela is the second most given (9.0% of them). In 2025 it was given to 100 of their 6,210 babies (1.6%), again the second 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 Isela
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 Isela and names like it
- Compare Isela and IslaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sIsela peaked in 1998.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Isela since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Isela: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Isela.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Isela alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with IMost given first.