Luella
A feminine name from French and English meaning "small fighter".
Name Census estimates that about 6,770 living Americans carry the first name Luella. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Luella today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Luella births was 1918 (949 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Luella. 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.
People living today
6.8K
~ 1 in 50,628 Americans
Peak year
1918
949 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1929 SSA rank
#827
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Luella
Out of the 32,268 babies given the name Luella since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Luella as a male name
- Ranked #4,328 in 1929
- 5 male births in 1929
- Peak: 1925 (6 births)
Luella as a female name
- Ranked #827 in 2024
- 331 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (949 births)
Popularity
Luella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Luella from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 7,653 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Luella 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 Luella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Luellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan recorded the most babies named Luella, while Wyoming, Hawaii, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 485 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Luella
Luella is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the combination of the Germanic elements "leu" meaning "people" and "el" meaning "other". It emerged as a fashionable name in the late 19th century, particularly in the United States and Canada.
The name Luella can be traced back to the Old English name Luitela, which was composed of the elements "luit" meaning "fame" and "hild" meaning "battle". Over time, this evolved into various spellings such as Luytel, Luitel, and eventually Luella.
While there are no significant historical references or appearances in ancient texts, the name Luella gained popularity in the late 1800s and early 1900s. One of the earliest recorded examples is Luella Cooley (1858-1945), an American educator and advocate for the education of women.
Another notable bearer of the name was Luella Agnes Owen (1890-1967), a Canadian author and journalist. Her works included the novel "Chill Hours" and several collections of short stories.
In the field of entertainment, Luella Gear (1889-1966) was an American actress and vaudeville performer who appeared in various Broadway productions in the early 20th century.
Luella Hoskins (1876-1952) was an American artist known for her landscape paintings and portraits. Her works were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and other prominent institutions.
The name Luella also found its way into the fashion industry with Luella Bartley (born 1974), a British fashion designer who launched her eponymous label in the late 1990s and gained recognition for her quirky and playful designs.
While the name Luella experienced a peak in popularity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it has since become less common. However, it remains a charming and distinctive name with a rich history and varied cultural associations.
People
Luella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Luella as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Luella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Luella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,770 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Luella 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 50,628 US residents.
Is Luella a common name?
We classify Luella as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 32,268 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Luella most popular?
The single biggest year for Luella was 1918, when 949 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Luella is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Luella a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Luella 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.
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.