Stella
Latin for star. Renaissance poets used it as a literary name, and Philip Sidney's sonnet sequence Astrophil and Stella carried it into English.
Stella in 2025
Stella was given to 4,136 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 135th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 802 babies born.
The history of Stella
Stella reached its highest point in 2018, when 5,164 babies were given the name, ranking 113th that year. Its best-ever ranking was 75th, in 1889.
Across the 146 years of records since 1880, 207,288 babies have been named Stella. Half of them were born before 1949, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Baby Boomers.
Stella by decade
| Decade | Babies named Stella | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 6,135 | 75 |
| 1890s | 9,833 | 76 |
| 1900s | 11,055 | 83 |
| 1910s | 28,586 | 97 |
| 1920s | 25,993 | 139 |
| 1930s | 11,288 | 256 |
| 1940s | 11,383 | 346 |
| 1950s | 8,602 | 418 |
| 1960s | 4,957 | 686 |
| 1970s | 2,568 | 968 |
| 1980s | 1,867 | 1,274 |
| 1990s | 1,798 | 1,307 |
| 2000s | 11,843 | 283 |
| 2010s | 44,258 | 113 |
| 2020s | 27,122 | 111 |
Where Stella is heading
Stella has fallen 14% over the past decade, from 4,805 babies in 2015 to 4,136 in 2025.
Names like Stella
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Stella.