Adela
Nearly gone in the early 2000s, it's back: more girls got it last year than in years past, a real comeback on a small base. Germanic at root, from a word for "noble", and given only to girls.
Adela Pronunciation
Adela is pronounced ah-DE-lah (/aˈdɛla/).
What Adela means
Where Adela comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Adela grows from the Germanic root adal, meaning noble. The same root gives the short Polish gloss, szlachetna, and it seeded a whole family of names across medieval Europe. English keeps a cousin in the old word atheling, a prince of noble blood.
The longer forms carry that sense of rank openly. Adelajda extends the root with a second element, while the plain variant Adel leaves it exposed. From Adela the softer names break away: Adelka for a small child, Ada when even three syllables feel like too many.
History gives it real bearers. Saint Adela of Pfalzel, a Frankish abbess of the eighth century, founded a convent near Trier and appears in the records as Adela. The meaning stayed put. Whatever a girl named Adela becomes, the root still says noble.
When Adela celebrates name day
Adela appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 23 November.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Adela
1 in 2391 women in Poland is named Adela. 9,429 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #372 among female names.
Adela's popularity over time
201 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #182 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2005.
Where Adela is most popular
Adela is most popular in Podlaskie, 72% above the national average (64 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Subcarpathian (+36%) and Lower Silesian (+35%). It is least common in Opole and Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 92% and 43% below average respectively.
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Podlaskie64 girls born+72%
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Subcarpathian93 girls born+36%
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Lower Silesian120 girls born+35%
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Lesser Poland171 girls born+33%
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Lubusz33 girls born+17%
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Masovian225 girls born+12%
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Lublin61 girls born+5%
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Warmian-Masurian40 girls born−2%
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West Pomeranian46 girls born−4%
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Łódź65 girls born−9%
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Pomeranian75 girls born−10%
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Silesian95 girls born−26%
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Greater Poland80 girls born−34%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian35 girls born−43%
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Świętokrzyskie18 girls born−43%
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Opole2 girls born−92%
Adela as a middle name
Adela is a first name for 9,429 women in Poland and a middle name for another 4,339, a 68/32 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 152nd, between Pelagia (4,392) and Konstancja (4,218).
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#150 Bernadetta4,487
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#151 Pelagia4,392
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#152 Adela4,339
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#153 Konstancja4,218
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#154 Bożenna4,116