Rella
Rella was given to 12 girls in 2025, #8,750 among girls’ names; 1,325 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Rella by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Rella?
#8,750 among girls’ names, 2025
Rella rose from #18,545 in 2015 to #8,750 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 2.8 to 7.5 per million.
26 babies in 1921, the peak
Rella peaked in 1921, when 26 girls were given it, #1,716 among girls’ names. The 12 births of 2025 are 46% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 12 | #8,750 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 6 | #14,904 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 8 | #12,005 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 9 | #10,963 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 7 | #13,168 | under 0.01 |
| 2019 | 7 | #13,499 | under 0.01 |
| 2018 | 6 | #15,255 | under 0.01 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,585 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 5 | #18,545 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 10 | #10,772 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (102)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 5 | #18,706 | under 0.01 |
| 2012 | 6 | #16,432 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 6 | #16,669 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 5 | #15,181 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 6 | #10,538 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,686 | under 0.01 |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,989 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,583 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #6,387 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 8 | #5,355 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,753 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,713 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 13 | #3,645 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 9 | #4,554 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 9 | #4,435 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 11 | #3,875 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 7 | #5,213 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 17 | #2,814 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 11 | #3,662 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 13 | #3,233 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 12 | #3,345 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 18 | #2,455 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 13 | #3,020 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,822 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 12 | #3,100 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 12 | #3,193 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 16 | #2,464 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 18 | #2,043 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #3,621 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,819 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 25 | #1,696 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 17 | #2,079 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 17 | #2,019 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,863 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,633 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 18 | #1,902 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 14 | #2,241 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 21 | #1,711 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,541 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,516 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 23 | #1,620 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 23 | #1,627 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 26 | #1,561 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 19 | #1,942 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 22 | #1,824 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 25 | #1,715 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 26 | #1,658 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 23 | #1,837 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 26 | #1,708 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 24 | #1,770 | 0.02 |
| 1922 | 20 | #2,011 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 26 | #1,716 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 25 | #1,696 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 23 | #1,734 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 19 | #2,017 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 24 | #1,598 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 22 | #1,674 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 23 | #1,564 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 19 | #1,527 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 18 | #1,395 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 10 | #1,954 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,770 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 12 | #1,410 | 0.03 |
| 1909 | 11 | #1,355 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 13 | #1,188 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 8 | #1,614 | 0.03 |
| 1906 | 11 | #1,214 | 0.04 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,661 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,457 | 0.03 |
| 1903 | 7 | #1,559 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 10 | #1,199 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 11 | #1,055 | 0.05 |
| 1900 | 14 | #1,047 | 0.05 |
| 1899 | 10 | #1,085 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 13 | #1,005 | 0.05 |
| 1897 | 15 | #863 | 0.06 |
| 1896 | 7 | #1,395 | 0.03 |
| 1895 | 19 | #739 | 0.08 |
| 1894 | 12 | #944 | 0.05 |
| 1893 | 10 | #1,009 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 15 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 7 | #1,190 | 0.04 |
| 1890 | 7 | #1,180 | 0.04 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,450 | 0.03 |
| 1888 | 9 | #946 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 7 | #977 | 0.05 |
| 1885 | 10 | #732 | 0.08 |
| 1884 | 10 | #722 | 0.08 |
| 1883 | 6 | #906 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 5 | #1,007 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 10 | #575 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 7 | #727 | 0.08 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Rella a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Rella has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 102 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Rella: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Rella, and how old are they?
An estimated 378 Americans named Rella and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (29% of everyone recorded); the median is 71 years old and half are between 20 and 80. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 482 people named Rella (481 women and girls, 1 man or boy). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 428 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% 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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 12,287 babies since 1880, Rella is the second most given (11% of them). In 2025 it was given to 12 of their 128 babies (9.4%), 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 Rella
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 Rella and names like it
- Compare Rella and ReillyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sRella peaked in 1921.
- Kentucky’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Rella since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Rella.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Rella alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with RMost given first.