Ella
A Hebrew name whose meaning comes down to "other," the outsider. In Poland it stays rare, given to only a handful of girls each year and carried by around 1,500 women in all, so most people here have never met one.
Ella Pronunciation
Ella is pronounced EL-lah (/ˈɛlla/).
What Ella means
Where Ella comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Ella traces back to a Hebrew root, and the meaning most often attached to it is simply "other," the one who stands apart. That sense of otherness settled onto the name later, after it had passed through many languages and mouths. In Polish the short gloss reads inna, obca, the girl who is not quite like the rest.
For English speakers the name belongs above all to Ella Fitzgerald, the American singer whose recordings from the 1930s onward made the four letters famous far past any nursery. English is where Ella settled into daily use, plain and short. It works as a full name of its own, rather than a clipping of Eleanor or Isabella.
Ella is short and plain. On a Polish class register it sits high, four letters and no fuss. The name day is not fixed everywhere, so families often borrow one close by. What holds steady is the Hebrew root and that old sense of the other one.
How many people are named Ella
1 in 15202 women in Poland is named Ella. 1,483 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #801 among female names.
Ella's popularity over time
14 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #606 among newborns. It is making a comeback after a low in 2004.
Where Ella is most popular
Ella is most popular in Greater Poland, 140% above the national average (11 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+109%) and Lubusz (+89%). It is least common in Pomeranian and Subcarpathian, 36% and 22% below average respectively.
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Greater Poland11 girls born+140%
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Lower Silesian7 girls born+109%
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Lubusz2 girls born+89%
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Lesser Poland6 girls born+24%
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West Pomeranian2 girls born+11%
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Masovian8 girls born+6%
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Lublin2 girls born−8%
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Silesian4 girls born−17%
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Subcarpathian2 girls born−22%
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Pomeranian2 girls born−36%
Ella as a middle name
Ella is a first name for 1,483 women in Poland and a middle name for another 266, an 85/15 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 414th, between Scholastyka (267) and Esther (266).