Noela
A feminine name of French origin meaning "Christmas".
Name Census estimates that about 202 living Americans carry the first name Noela. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Noela today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Noela births was 2002 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Noela. 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 Noela with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
202
~ 1 in 1,696,804 Americans
Peak year
2002
12 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,057
Tracked since 1920
Census
Noela in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 558 people with the first name Noela, which placed it at #19,133 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
#19,133
National first-name rank
People counted
558
558 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
29.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Noela
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Noela is White at 29.6%. The next largest groups are Black (29.2%) and Hispanic (26.9%). 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 Noela 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 Noela at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White29.6% · 165
- Black or African American29.2% · 163
- Hispanic or Latino26.9% · 150
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.6% · 59
- Two or more races3.8% · 21
Popularity
Noela: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Noela from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 77 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Noela remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Noela 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 Noela during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Noela
The given name Noela has its origins in Latin, stemming from the word "Noël" which means "Christmas" or "birthday of Christ." This name gained popularity during the medieval period, particularly in regions where Latin Christianity had a strong influence, such as parts of Europe and the Mediterranean.
In its earliest forms, the name was often spelled as "Noela" or "Noella," with variations depending on the local language and dialect. It was commonly used as a feminine name, though there are some historical instances of it being used as a masculine name as well.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Noela can be found in the chronicles of the 12th century, where it was mentioned as the name of a noble woman from the region of Aquitaine in present-day France. Noela de Montfort, born in 1135, was a prominent figure in the Crusades and played a significant role in the defense of the city of Acre during the Third Crusade.
During the Renaissance period, the name Noela gained further popularity, particularly in Italy and Spain. Noela de Trastámara, born in 1451, was a Spanish noblewoman and a key figure in the court of King Ferdinand II of Aragon. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her influential role in the cultural development of the time.
In the 17th century, Noela Bressand, born in 1620, was a French writer and poet who gained recognition for her works on religious themes. Her writings were widely circulated and celebrated during her lifetime, and she is considered one of the earliest female writers to achieve significant literary acclaim.
Noela Herreros, born in 1759, was a Spanish composer and music teacher who made significant contributions to the development of classical music in Spain. Her compositions, which included operas, sonatas, and chamber works, were highly regarded and performed throughout Europe.
In the 19th century, Noela Duckett, born in 1832, was a British artist and illustrator known for her intricate botanical drawings and watercolor paintings. Her works were exhibited at the Royal Academy and are now housed in various museum collections around the world.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Noela. While the name has its roots in Latin and Christianity, it has transcended cultural and geographical boundaries, becoming a respected and admired name in various parts of the world.
People
Noela + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Noela as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Noela: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Noela?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 202 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Noela 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 1,696,804 US residents.
Is Noela a common name?
We classify Noela as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 244 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Noela most popular?
The single biggest year for Noela was 2002, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Noela 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 Noela in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 558 people with the name Noela, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,133 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 Noela 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 Noela?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Noela leans strongly female. 553 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 7 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Noela?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Noela is White at 29.6%. The next largest groups are Black (29.2%) and Hispanic (26.9%). 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 Noela most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Noela in the 2020 Census, accounting for 29.6% (165 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 Noela in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Noela a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Noela 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 Noela still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Noela 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 Noela 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 common is the name Noela?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Noela at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.