Ella
Meaning of Ella
Ella has two well-established origins. Most reference works trace it to the Old German element *al*, meaning "all" or "other," and so read it as "completely" or "all." It is also widely treated as a short form of Eleanor, Ellen or Helen, and in that reading it carries the meaning "light," from the Greek *helene*. Name dictionaries generally accept both explanations, so the meaning depends on which root is preferred.
English speakers say EL-uh, with a short first syllable. Italian gives EH-lah, with a clean open vowel, and Spanish speakers say EH-yah, turning the double l into a y sound.
The best-known namesake is Ella Fitzgerald, the American singer celebrated as the First Lady of Song and one of the great jazz vocalists. Ella Baker was a civil rights organizer whose five decades of work included mentoring young activists in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Ella Grasso, governor of Connecticut from 1975 to 1980, was the first woman elected to that office in the United States without succeeding a husband.
Ella has never been out of use in the United States. It was a top-twenty name in the 1880s, fell steadily through the twentieth century to a low of 1,150th in 1987, then rose sharply: it entered the top 100 in 2002 and reached 12th in 2011 and 2012. In 2025 it was given to 5,831 girls and ranked 29th.
Pronunciation
Italian
- Pronunced as EH-lah (/'e.la/)
Spanish
- Pronunced as EH-yah (/e̞ʝa̠h̞/)
English
- Pronunced as EL-uh (/ˈɛl.ə/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Ella
| Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American singer, songwriter, and composer celebrated as the First Lady of Song and Queen of Jazz, renowned for her pure tone, impeccable diction and timing, and masterful scat improvisation. |
| Ella Josephine Baker was a behind the scenes African American civil and human rights organizer who spent over five decades working with leading figures and mentoring SNCC activists. |
| Ella Grasso, a Democrat, was Connecticut governor from 1975 to 1980, the first woman elected to that office and the fourth in the nation, and the first female U.S. governor not the spouse or widow of a former governor, resigning due to ovarian cancer. |
| Ella Wheeler Wilcox was an American author and poet known for Poems of Passion and the poem Solitude, and she published her autobiography The Worlds and I in 1918, a year before her death. |
| Ella Rose Emhoff is an American artist and fashion designer who was part of the U.S. Second Family from 2021 to 2025 as the daughter of Doug Emhoff and stepdaughter of Kamala Harris. |
| Ella May McFadyen was an Australian poet, journalist, and children's writer who ran The Children's Page in The Sydney Mail for 18 years under the name Cinderella. |
| Ella Balinska is an English actress who starred in the 2019 film Charlies Angels and the 2022 Netflix series Resident Evil. |
| Ella Graham Agnew was a Virginia educator and social worker who became the first woman USDA field demonstration agent and later held high level New Deal roles. |
| Ella Mae Johnson - Ella Mae Cheeks Johnson was an American social worker, activist, and author who gained national recognition at age 105 by traveling to Washington DC to attend the 2009 inauguration of President Barack Obama. |
| Ella Gifft was a Black entrepreneur and suffragist from the United States Virgin Islands who founded the Suffragist League, was among the first women to register to vote there, and is remembered for Prohibition era alcohol smuggling in the folk song Over the Side. |
| Ella Rumpf is a Swiss actress best known for Raw, with acclaimed roles in Tiger Girl and The Divine Order, the Swiss Oscar submission. |
| Ella Vaday, born Nick Collier, is an English drag queen, actor, and dancer who competed on series three of RuPaul's Drag Race UK. |
