Adela

Meaning of Adela

Adela glides off the tongue with an old-world grace, yet she feels wonderfully at home in a modern nursery. Born from the Germanic element “adal,” meaning “noble,” this name once echoed through medieval courts and convents—think Saint Adela of Pfalz or the polished daughter of William the Conqueror—before traveling south to become the lyrical ah-DAY-lah in Italian and Spanish and settling into the friendly English uh-DEE-luh. Today, Adela sits in that sweet spot of familiarity without ubiquity, hovering around the 700s in U.S. popularity charts for decades; she’s recognizable but unlikely to share a classroom row with five namesakes. Literary buffs may hear whispers of E. M. Forster’s adventurous Adela Quested, while history lovers picture a brocade-clad princess. For parents, though, the real charm is her built-in balance: short but substantial, vintage yet spry, a little bit velvet, a little bit sunshine. If you’re hunting for a name that quietly announces “class act,” Adela wears the crown with effortless poise.