Ela
From Hebrew, carrying the sense "my god is an oath." Fewer than 800 women in Poland go by it, rare enough that most people here have never met one.
Ela Pronunciation
Ela is pronounced E-lah (/ˈɛla/).
What Ela means
Where Ela comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ela is the short form of Elżbieta, and Elżbieta reaches back through Greek and Latin to the Hebrew Elisheva. The name means "my God is an oath," bóg mą przysięgą, a promise built into the sound of it. Long before it shortened, it belonged to prophets' households and to queens.
The full name carried weight; Ela carries ease. On a school register you might find three of them in one class, each an Elżbieta on the birth certificate and an Ela to everyone else. Elka trims it further, the form a grandmother uses. Elisabeta is the same name wearing a different country's spelling.
What survives every clipping is the oath. Ela holds the Hebrew sense whole, even when only two syllables remain.
How many people are named Ela
1 in 29508 women in Poland is named Ela. 767 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1071 among female names.
Ela's popularity over time
4 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1034 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2019.
Where Ela is most popular
Ela is most popular in Masovian, 399% above the national average (9 girls born 2019–2025), followed by West Pomeranian (+365%).
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Masovian9 girls born+399%
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West Pomeranian2 girls born+365%
Ela as a middle name
Ela is a first name for 767 women in Poland and a middle name for another 291, a 72/28 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 394th, between Naomi (292) and Kristina (290).
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#392 Prakseda294
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#393 Naomi292
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#394 Ela291
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#395 Kristina290
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#396 Ema288