Girl · Germanic, through Norman French
Ela
Say it: EE-luh
Meaning
Probably a Norman name from a Germanic short form, perhaps from ali 'other' or alja 'all'; uncertain.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
A Norman-period name of the English aristocracy, documented from the 12th and 13th centuries.
Its wave through time
Popular now
In the United States
- 2,264 babies given this name since 1887
- At its height in 2018, about 1 in 11,300 girls
- 119 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Ella, Hela
Famous bearers
- Ela, Countess of Salisbury, founder of Lacock Abbey
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Medieval European charters and records
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.