Nella
A Latin name grown out of Helena, keeping its sense of bright and shining. Rare in Poland and getting rarer: after a peak in the 2010s it now goes to only a handful of girls a year.
Nella Pronunciation
Nella is pronounced NEL-lah (/ˈnɛlla/).
What Nella means
Where Nella comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Nella came into Polish through Latin, a short form clipped from longer names ending in -nella. Its meaning, bright and shining, was inherited from Helen, known in Greek as Helenē. Scholars connect that older name to a root for light, the sort a torch throws off. The brightness arrived by descent.
On a school class register the name sits in two clean syllables. It is easy to call across a room. Nella reads as modern, even while its Latin frame is centuries old. Girls who carry it rarely have to spell it twice at the urząd.
Ask what Nella means and the answer stays near its source. The sense came down from Helen and never strayed: jasna, świetlista, bright and shining.
How many people are named Nella
1 in 34106 women in Poland is named Nella. 661 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #1152 among female names.
Nella's popularity over time
6 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #881 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2006.
Where Nella is most popular
Nella is most popular in West Pomeranian, 85% above the national average (7 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+84%) and Silesian (+47%). It is least common in Lublin and Kuyavian-Pomeranian, 57% and 39% below average respectively.
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West Pomeranian7 girls born+85%
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Lower Silesian13 girls born+84%
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Silesian15 girls born+47%
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Opole3 girls born+45%
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Pomeranian8 girls born+21%
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Łódź6 girls born+5%
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Greater Poland10 girls born+4%
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Lesser Poland10 girls born−2%
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Lubusz2 girls born−10%
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Świętokrzyskie2 girls born−20%
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Masovian12 girls born−25%
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Subcarpathian4 girls born−26%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian3 girls born−39%
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Lublin2 girls born−57%
Nella as a middle name
Nella is a first name for 661 women in Poland and a middle name for another 77, a 90/10 split. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 758th, between Monique (77) and Nora (77).
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#756 Kiara77
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#757 Monique77
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#758 Nella77
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#759 Nora77
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#760 Vera77