Lella
Lella was last recorded in 2018, when 5 babies were given it; 864 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2018 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Lella by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Lella mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Lella is “a female given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Lella?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,082, in 2018; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
30 babies in 1916, the peak
Lella peaked in 1916, when 30 girls were given it, #1,347 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 5 | #17,082 | 2.9 |
| 2017 | 5 | #17,334 | 2.9 |
| 2014 | 7 | #13,940 | 3.9 |
| 2011 | 5 | #18,379 | 2.8 |
| 2004 | 5 | #17,656 | 2.7 |
| 1982 | 5 | #11,466 | 3.0 |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,332 | 3.0 |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,074 | 2.8 |
| 1960 | 5 | #6,886 | 2.5 |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,209 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | 6 | #5,388 | 3.2 |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,314 | 4.3 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,543 | 4.1 |
| 1949 | 6 | #4,988 | 3.5 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,648 | 2.9 |
| 1947 | 10 | #3,583 | 5.6 |
| 1946 | 14 | #2,682 | 8.9 |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,314 | 4.5 |
| 1943 | 6 | #4,455 | 4.3 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,943 | 5.2 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,792 | 5.8 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,649 | 9.6 |
| 1939 | 11 | #2,674 | 10.0 |
| 1938 | 9 | #3,062 | 8.2 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,638 | 6.6 |
| 1936 | 8 | #3,263 | 7.7 |
| 1935 | 17 | #1,964 | 16.2 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,645 | 6.7 |
| 1933 | 15 | #2,104 | 14.9 |
| 1932 | 14 | #2,309 | 13.1 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,670 | 10.3 |
| 1930 | 12 | #2,617 | 10.7 |
| 1929 | 12 | #2,659 | 10.7 |
| 1928 | 18 | #2,054 | 15.6 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,628 | 10.9 |
| 1926 | 15 | #2,414 | 12.7 |
| 1925 | 19 | #2,078 | 15.6 |
| 1924 | 15 | #2,463 | 12.0 |
| 1923 | 17 | #2,224 | 14.1 |
| 1922 | 22 | #1,867 | 18.3 |
| 1921 | 23 | #1,839 | 18.7 |
| 1920 | 17 | #2,218 | 14.2 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,720 | 20.4 |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,846 | 18.1 |
| 1917 | 17 | #2,056 | 15.7 |
| 1916 | 30 | #1,347 | 28.7 |
| 1915 | 21 | #1,653 | 21.3 |
| 1914 | 21 | #1,410 | 27.6 |
| 1913 | 15 | #1,568 | 24.0 |
| 1912 | 13 | #1,575 | 23.3 |
| 1911 | 10 | #1,603 | 23.9 |
| 1910 | 10 | #1,576 | 25.2 |
| 1909 | 8 | #1,678 | 23.0 |
| 1908 | 11 | #1,310 | 32.9 |
| 1907 | 14 | #1,063 | 43.9 |
| 1906 | 9 | #1,378 | 30.5 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,615 | 24.0 |
| 1904 | 9 | #1,314 | 32.7 |
| 1903 | 10 | #1,172 | 38.2 |
| 1902 | 6 | #1,711 | 22.7 |
| 1901 | 7 | #1,410 | 29.2 |
| 1900 | 10 | #1,273 | 33.4 |
| 1899 | 11 | #1,008 | 47.2 |
| 1898 | 14 | #945 | 54.1 |
| 1897 | 9 | #1,126 | 38.4 |
| 1896 | 14 | #888 | 58.8 |
| 1895 | 15 | #845 | 64.2 |
| 1894 | 9 | #1,106 | 40.4 |
| 1893 | 16 | #753 | 75.2 |
| 1892 | 10 | #986 | 47.1 |
| 1891 | 6 | #1,277 | 32.3 |
| 1890 | 5 | #1,427 | 26.3 |
| 1889 | 12 | #779 | 67.3 |
| 1888 | 9 | #929 | 50.4 |
| 1885 | 7 | #880 | 52.6 |
| 1884 | 7 | #893 | 54.3 |
| 1883 | 10 | #634 | 89.0 |
| 1881 | 6 | #789 | 65.3 |
| 1880 | 5 | #886 | 54.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Lella a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Lella has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 79 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Lella: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Lella, and how old are they?
An estimated 131 Americans named Lella and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (15% of everyone recorded); the median is 77 years old and half are between 45 and 85. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 263 people named Lella (256 women and girls, 7 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 180 born in the U.S. The Census count is 46% above 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.
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).
How common is the spelling Lella?
Lella is a less common spelling of Lela: SSA has recorded 864 Lella and 43,073 Lela since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 207,020 babies since 1880, Lella is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 3,135 babies recorded by SSA was a Lella (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Lella
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 Lella and names like it
- Compare Lella and LelaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sLella peaked in 1916.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Lella since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Lella.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Lella alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with LMost given first.