Luella
Luella was given to 349 girls in 2025, #780 among girls’ names; 32,621 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 7,560 Americans named Luella and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (23% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 7 and 78.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Luella by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Luella mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Luella is “a female given name originating as a coinage, variant of Louella.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Luella?
#780 among girls’ names, 2025
Luella rose from #1,347 in 2015 to #780 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.10 to 0.22 per 1,000.
949 babies in 1918, the peak
Luella peaked in 1918, when 949 girls were given it, #203 among girls’ names. The 349 births of 2025 are 37% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 349 | #780 | 0.22 |
| 2024 | 334 | #824 | 0.21 |
| 2023 | 286 | #930 | 0.18 |
| 2022 | 262 | #1,001 | 0.16 |
| 2021 | 288 | #924 | 0.18 |
| 2020 | 262 | #974 | 0.16 |
| 2019 | 282 | #938 | 0.17 |
| 2018 | 278 | #953 | 0.16 |
| 2017 | 294 | #912 | 0.17 |
| 2016 | 206 | #1,204 | 0.12 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 177 | #1,347 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 148 | #1,507 | 0.08 |
| 2013 | 122 | #1,709 | 0.07 |
| 2012 | 108 | #1,867 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 93 | #2,081 | 0.05 |
| 2010 | 103 | #1,955 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 86 | #2,280 | 0.05 |
| 2008 | 79 | #2,432 | 0.04 |
| 2007 | 53 | #3,232 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 57 | #3,004 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 35 | #4,079 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 32 | #4,341 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 17 | #6,775 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 13 | #8,106 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 9 | #10,629 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 14 | #7,402 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 9 | #9,983 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 11 | #8,334 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 11 | #8,099 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 12 | #7,386 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 13 | #6,874 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 12 | #7,394 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 6 | #12,758 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 6 | #12,675 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 6 | #12,428 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 14 | #6,318 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 14 | #6,005 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 13 | #6,119 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 16 | #4,982 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 7 | #9,123 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 10 | #6,745 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 12 | #5,730 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 11 | #6,044 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 18 | #4,260 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 16 | #4,644 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 15 | #4,874 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 12 | #5,611 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 23 | #3,340 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 18 | #3,996 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 18 | #3,755 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 18 | #3,707 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 16 | #3,957 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 23 | #2,970 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 30 | #2,430 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 19 | #3,444 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 35 | #2,255 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 34 | #2,188 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 23 | #2,674 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 40 | #1,869 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 46 | #1,659 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 45 | #1,683 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 53 | #1,568 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 50 | #1,613 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 68 | #1,346 | 0.03 |
| 1961 | 64 | #1,402 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 79 | #1,232 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 71 | #1,273 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 67 | #1,295 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 88 | #1,120 | 0.04 |
| 1956 | 85 | #1,125 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 105 | #972 | 0.05 |
| 1954 | 101 | #967 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 92 | #1,004 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 93 | #978 | 0.05 |
| 1951 | 118 | #825 | 0.07 |
| 1950 | 127 | #768 | 0.07 |
| 1949 | 156 | #666 | 0.09 |
| 1948 | 183 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1947 | 157 | #673 | 0.09 |
| 1946 | 172 | #605 | 0.11 |
| 1945 | 139 | #617 | 0.11 |
| 1944 | 181 | #538 | 0.14 |
| 1943 | 214 | #510 | 0.15 |
| 1942 | 216 | #509 | 0.16 |
| 1941 | 236 | #447 | 0.20 |
| 1940 | 251 | #430 | 0.22 |
| 1939 | 276 | #405 | 0.25 |
| 1938 | 294 | #392 | 0.27 |
| 1937 | 345 | #339 | 0.32 |
| 1936 | 338 | #340 | 0.32 |
| 1935 | 363 | #333 | 0.35 |
| 1934 | 388 | #318 | 0.37 |
| 1933 | 428 | #293 | 0.42 |
| 1932 | 495 | #279 | 0.46 |
| 1931 | 576 | #253 | 0.54 |
| 1930 | 597 | #255 | 0.53 |
| 1929 | 660 | #241 | 0.59 |
| 1928 | 662 | #242 | 0.57 |
| 1927 | 723 | #242 | 0.61 |
| 1926 | 639 | #264 | 0.54 |
| 1925 | 761 | #238 | 0.63 |
| 1924 | 776 | #235 | 0.62 |
| 1923 | 821 | #225 | 0.68 |
| 1922 | 861 | #222 | 0.72 |
| 1921 | 887 | #216 | 0.72 |
| 1920 | 852 | #224 | 0.71 |
| 1919 | 905 | #205 | 0.80 |
| 1918 | 949 | #203 | 0.82 |
| 1917 | 842 | #208 | 0.78 |
| 1916 | 837 | #210 | 0.80 |
| 1915 | 783 | #211 | 0.80 |
| 1914 | 604 | #210 | 0.79 |
| 1913 | 519 | #204 | 0.83 |
| 1912 | 483 | #200 | 0.87 |
| 1911 | 352 | #205 | 0.84 |
| 1910 | 374 | #184 | 0.94 |
| 1909 | 325 | #183 | 0.94 |
| 1908 | 336 | #177 | 1.0 |
| 1907 | 355 | #166 | 1.1 |
| 1906 | 291 | #174 | 1.0 |
| 1905 | 287 | #178 | 1.0 |
| 1904 | 246 | #191 | 0.89 |
| 1903 | 286 | #170 | 1.1 |
| 1902 | 262 | #177 | 1.0 |
| 1901 | 239 | #182 | 1.0 |
| 1900 | 268 | #192 | 0.89 |
| 1899 | 246 | #174 | 1.1 |
| 1898 | 261 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1897 | 206 | #192 | 0.88 |
| 1896 | 230 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1895 | 227 | #178 | 1.0 |
| 1894 | 228 | #175 | 1.0 |
| 1893 | 199 | #179 | 0.93 |
| 1892 | 207 | #176 | 1.0 |
| 1891 | 163 | #184 | 0.88 |
| 1890 | 184 | #175 | 1.0 |
| 1889 | 172 | #171 | 1.0 |
| 1888 | 171 | #168 | 1.0 |
| 1887 | 127 | #179 | 0.87 |
| 1886 | 136 | #172 | 0.94 |
| 1885 | 131 | #161 | 1.0 |
| 1884 | 158 | #139 | 1.2 |
| 1883 | 120 | #151 | 1.1 |
| 1882 | 117 | #149 | 1.1 |
| 1881 | 141 | #120 | 1.5 |
| 1880 | 111 | #140 | 1.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Luella a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Luella has been given almost only to girls: 16 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Luella: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Luella, and how old are they?
7,560 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 23% of the 32,621 Americans ever recorded as Luella. The median Luella alive today is 19 years old; half are between 7 and 78.
The 2020 Census counted 7,137 people named Luella (7,125 women and girls, 12 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,679 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 1,490 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,440 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 382 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 181 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 723 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,270 |
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 Luella born?
The states with the most babies named Luella are Minnesota, Ohio and Michigan, with 22% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minnesota | 1,717 | #207 | 3.0× |
| Ohio | 1,533 | #611 | 1.2× |
| Michigan | 1,509 | #431 | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 1,345 | #895 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,251 | #747 | 0.6× |
| Wisconsin | 1,163 | #261 | 1.9× |
| New York | 1,069 | #1,066 | 0.5× |
| Iowa | 1,062 | #368 | 2.1× |
| Indiana | 825 | #599 | 1.3× |
| California | 790 | #1,134 | 0.6× |
Where Luella is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Luella is most over-represented in North Dakota: since 1910 it was given 4.4 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 Luella 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 118,939 babies since 1880, Luella is the second most given (27% of them). In 2025 it was given to 349 of their 465 babies (75%), the 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.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Luella
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 Luella and names like it
- Compare Luella and LulaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sLuella peaked in 1918.
- Minnesota’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Luella since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Luella: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Luella.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Luella alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with LMost given first.