How rare is the name Stella?

93,368 people in the United States have the first name Stella, about 1 in 3,235. It ranks #572 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

STELLA

#572

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
93,368
About
1 in 3,235
This common or more
60.9%
Who bears it

Of the 93,368 people named Stella, 65.5% reported their origin as White, 15.3% as Hispanic or Latino and 7.8% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Stella peaked in 2018, when 5,164 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
2018
Births that year
5,164
In 2025*
4,136 ▼20%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 207,288 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Stella by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1890s, when it ranked #82. The largest share of babies named Stella, 29.4%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#866,135
1890s#829,833
1900s#8711,055
1910s#11028,586
1920s#18425,993
1930s#31711,288
1940s#36511,383
1950s#5418,602
1960s#7774,957
1970s#1,1262,568
1980s#1,5021,867
1990s#1,8181,798
2000s#55111,843
2010s#14644,258
2020s#12127,122
Before 19018.3%
Greatest Generation 1901–2729.4%
Silent Generation 1928–4510.2%
Baby boom 1946–648%
Generation X 1965–802.3%
Millennials 1981–961.3%
Generation Z 1997–1211.5%
2013 and later29%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Stella is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Stella has been most common in New Mexico (1.8×), Kentucky (1.6×), and Pennsylvania (1.4×), and least common in District of Columbia (0.37×).

176,424 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Stella

#570 Margarita · 93,539#571 Kara · 93,447#573 Edith · 92,920#574 Jerome · 92,865

Spelled almost the same

2 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Stella, most common first.

#13,444 Stela · 898#49,509 Stell · 125

Also a last name

As a last name, Stella ranks #8,428 of 156,621, with 3,763 people. See Stella as a last name

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