Ella · Daily fortune

Ella is a feminine English name with two documented origins. Behind the Name's first entry calls it a Norman name, originally a short form of Germanic names containing the element alles, "other" (Proto-Germanic *aljaz); it was introduced to England by the Normans, used until the 14th century, and revived in the 19th. Its second entry makes Ella a diminutive of Eleanor, Ellen and other names beginning with El-, or a short form of names ending in -ella. Both are in current use and neither cancels the other. In 2025 Ella ranked #29 among American girls' names.

Behind the Name splits this spelling into two entries. Ella (1) is "Norman name, originally a short form of Germanic names containing the element alles meaning 'other' (Proto-Germanic *aljaz)"; it was introduced to England by the Normans, used until the 14th century, and revived in the 19th, and its most famous bearer was the American singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996). Ella (2) is a "Diminutive of Eleanor, Ellen and other names beginning with El", and can also be a short form of names ending in -ella. Wikipedia agrees on the Norman line — "Ella is a Norman version of the Germanic short name Alia, which was short for a variety of German names with the element ali-, meaning 'other'" — and adds that it also serves as a common short form for El- names, particularly Eleanor. For most modern bearers the two lines are indistinguishable in practice.

Ella's English history runs in two stretches with a gap in the middle. Behind the Name records that the Norman name was introduced to England by the Normans and used until the 14th century, then revived in the 19th — so its medieval and modern careers are separate events, not one continuous run. Wikipedia places the modern peak in the Victorian era, with a further resurgence in the late 20th and early 21st centuries across the English-speaking world, and notes the name is particularly popular in County Kerry, Ireland, and in Israel. Running alongside all of this is the El- diminutive line, which produced Ella independently as a nickname for Eleanor, Ellen, Elizabeth and their relatives in English, German and the Nordic languages. The name's single most famous bearer, the American singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917–1996), belongs to the 19th-century revival.

Ella ranked #29 for girls in the United States in 2025 (Social Security Administration). Wikipedia describes a Victorian peak followed by a late-20th- and early-21st-century resurgence in English-speaking countries, and singles out County Kerry in Ireland and Israel as places where it remains particularly popular. No non-US ranking series was fetched for this profile.

English Ella is /ˈɛl.ə/. Behind the Name gives two further pronunciations under its second entry, Ella (2), which is used in the Nordic languages, German and Hungarian as well as English. The related forms below come from the entries' "Other Languages & Cultures" lists; pronunciations other than the three IPA transcriptions given were not verified in this pass.

Ella is the shortest way to sound old-fashioned without sounding heavy. It is a whole name and a nickname at the same time, which is exactly why it works for parents who like Eleanor or Elizabeth on paper but want something lighter in daily use — and why it needs no nickname of its own. The trade-off is how crowded its sound family has become: Ella, Bella, Stella, Ellie and Eliana all live on the same shortlist, and a child named Ella will rarely be the only one in the room.

Only bearers named in the two sources consulted for this profile are listed.

Names that share Ella's soft two-syllable sound, its vintage-revival register, or its El- family.