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Nela

Slavic at root, with a meaning that lands on "bright light". After years of steady climbing it now sits inside Poland's 300 most-given girls' names, a comeback that's still building.

Nela Pronunciation

Nela is pronounced NE-lah (/ˈnɛla/).

Related names
Anelia Aniela
Alive in 2025
19,147
Newborns 2025
1,605
National rank
#281
Also celebrates
10 November
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What Nela means

Where Nela comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Nela grows from Slavic roots, and the meaning that has settled on it is bright light, jasna and świetlista in Polish. That reading gives the name a plain brightness, nothing overworked. The sound is short.

The name keeps company with a couple of close forms. Neli holds the same shape with a softer ending, while nel trims it down to a single syllable. Both stay near the source, so a girl entered as Nela can be neli to her classmates and nel at home, all of them pointing back to the same idea of light.

Picture a class register in September, the teacher moving down the list until Nela answers and a hand goes up. A form at the urząd would record the full spelling, though the person behind it may go by nel for years. Whatever the paperwork says, the name still carries its old sense: bright, jasna, świetlista.

When Nela celebrates name day

Nela appears 3 times in the Polish name day calendar, never as a main name. The first of these dates is 31 March.

Next name day
10 November
Tuesday in 2026
Next one in 16 days
Also celebrates

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 Nela

1 in 1177 women in Poland is named Nela. 19,147 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #281 among female names.

People with the name Nela 2019 → 2025
19,147 +10,216 since 2019
2020 9,964 +1,033
2021 11,762 +1,798
2022 13,598 +1,836
2023 15,560 +1,962
2024 17,379 +1,819
2025 19,147 +1,768

Nela's popularity over time

1,605 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #49 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2001.

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1,605 newborns with the name Nela in 2025
national rank #49 that year

Where parents choose Nela

Nela is most popular in Holy Cross, 47% above the national average (455 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Łódź (+33%) and Lubusz (+30%). It is least common in Silesian and Lesser Poland, 22% and 17% below average respectively.

Chosen most
  • Holy Cross
    +47%
    1 in 122 babies
  • Łódź
    +33%
    1 in 135 babies
  • Lubusz
    +30%
    1 in 138 babies
Chosen least
  • Silesian
    −22%
    1 in 231 babies
  • Lesser Poland
    −17%
    1 in 217 babies
  • Podlaskie
    −13%
    1 in 206 babies

Nela as a middle name

Nela is a first name for 19,147 women in Poland and a middle name for another 1,177, a 94/6 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 235th, between Bianka (1,230) and Eva (1,171).

As a first name
19,147
As a middle name
1,177
first name 94% middle name 6%
Middle-name ranking women

Look up another name

Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

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