Bela
A feminine name of Hungarian origin meaning "beautiful", "fair", or "intellect".
Name Census estimates that about 1,058 living Americans carry the first name Bela. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 61.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Bela today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bela births was 2008 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bela. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Bela with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Bela started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Bela sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 323,964 Americans
Peak year
2008
49 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2022 SSA rank
#4,561
Tracked since 1912
Census
Bela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,579 people with the first name Bela, which placed it at #6,255 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,255
National first-name rank
People counted
2.6K
2,579 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bela is White at 58.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.0%) and Hispanic (10.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bela described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.4% · 1,507
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.0% · 644
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 265
- Two or more races3.7% · 95
- Black or African American2.3% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Bela
Bela is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,273 total registrations, 485 (38.1%) were male and 788 (61.9%) were female.
Bela as a male name
- Ranked #9,074 in 2022
- 8 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1918 (14 births)
Bela as a female name
- Ranked #4,561 in 2024
- 30 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (44 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bela on both sides of the split. Of the 2,579 people counted with this name, 895 were male (34.7%) and 1,684 were female (65.3%).
Popularity
Bela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bela from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 336 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Bela remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bela by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Bela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Belas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Bela, while Florida, New York, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bela
The name Bela has its origins in various cultures and languages around the world. In Hungarian, the name Bela is derived from the Slavic word "bely," meaning "white" or "fair." It was a popular name among Hungarian royalty and nobility during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Bela was Bela I, who reigned as King of Hungary from 1060 to 1063. He was known for his efforts to strengthen the kingdom and promote Christianity.
In Sanskrit, the name Bela is believed to be derived from the word "bala," which means "young" or "child." It was a common name among Hindus, particularly in northern India.
In ancient Greek mythology, Bela was the name of an Amazon warrior, known for her strength and bravery in battle. The name has also been associated with the Greek word "belos," meaning "arrow."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Bela. One of the most famous was Bela Bartok (1881-1945), a renowned Hungarian composer and pianist. He is celebrated for his innovative contributions to 20th-century music, incorporating folk elements into his compositions.
Another prominent figure was Bela Lugosi (1882-1956), a Hungarian-American actor best known for his iconic portrayal of Count Dracula in the 1931 film adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel.
In Indian history, Bela Rajput was a renowned ruler of the Chauhan dynasty in the 12th century. She was celebrated for her courage and military prowess in defending her kingdom against invaders.
Bela Kun (1886-1939) was a Hungarian revolutionary and communist leader who briefly ruled the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919 before being overthrown.
Bela Zsolt (1895-1949) was a Hungarian-American film director and screenwriter who worked in Hollywood during the Golden Age of cinema, directing numerous successful films in the 1930s and 1940s.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bela
People
Bela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bela as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,058 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bela going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 323,964 US residents.
Is Bela a common name?
We classify Bela as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bela most popular?
The single biggest year for Bela was 2008, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bela is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,579 people with the name Bela, or 0.85 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,255 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bela in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bela?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bela on both sides of the split. Of the 2,579 people counted with this name, 895 were male (34.7%) and 1,684 were female (65.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bela is White at 58.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.0%) and Hispanic (10.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.4% (1,507 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Bela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bela a female name?
Yes, 61.9% of people registered as Bela in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Bela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bela in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Bela can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Bela?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.