Stella
Of Latin origin meaning "star" or "shining".
Roughly 102,129 people in the United States go by the first name Stella, which ranks #49 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Stella today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stella births was 2018 (5,163 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Maxwell (102,108).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stella. 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 Stella with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Stella is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 382 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
102K
~ 1 in 3,356 Americans
Peak year
2018
5,163 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2020 SSA rank
#49
Tracked since 1880
Census
Stella in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 93,369 people with the first name Stella, which placed it at #572 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
#572
National first-name rank
People counted
93K
93,369 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
30.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stella
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stella is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.3%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Stella 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 Stella at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.5% · 61,158
- Hispanic or Latino15.3% · 14,315
- Black or African American7.8% · 7,246
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.3% · 5,867
- Two or more races4.3% · 4,034
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 749
Gender
Gender distribution for Stella
Out of the 203,125 babies given the name Stella since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Stella as a male name
- Ranked #13,781 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1920 (13 births)
Stella as a female name
- Ranked #49 in 2024
- 4,264 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (5,163 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stella appears almost entirely female. Of the 93,368 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Stella: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stella from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 44,252 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Stella remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stella 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 Stella during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stellas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Stella, while Wyoming, Alaska, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,378 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stella
The name Stella has its origins in the Latin word 'stella', meaning 'star'. It is a feminine name that traces its roots back to ancient Roman times. The name was derived from the Latin word 'stellatus', which means 'starry' or 'decorated with stars'.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Stella can be found in the works of the ancient Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 17 AD. In his famous work 'Metamorphoses', Ovid makes reference to a character named Stella. This suggests that the name was already in use during the early years of the Roman Empire.
Stella was a relatively uncommon name during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, but it gained popularity in the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Stella Calvert (1631-1697), who was the daughter of the first Lord Baltimore and a prominent figure in the early history of Maryland.
In the literary world, the name Stella is perhaps best associated with the 18th-century Irish writer and playwright Jonathan Swift. In his famous work 'The Journal to Stella', Swift chronicles his correspondence with Esther Johnson, whom he affectionately referred to as 'Stella'. This work is believed to have contributed to the increased popularity of the name during that time period.
Another famous Stella from history is Stella Maris (1923-1989), who was a Catholic nun and missionary in India. She dedicated her life to helping the poor and marginalized, and her work earned her widespread recognition and respect.
Stella Adler (1901-1992) was an influential American actress and acting teacher. She founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City, which has trained numerous acclaimed actors over the years. Her teachings and techniques have had a lasting impact on the art of acting.
Stella Nickell (born 1942) is a notorious American woman who was convicted of murder after lacing Excedrin capsules with cyanide in 1986. Her case gained widespread media attention and sparked concerns about product tampering and consumer safety.
Throughout history, the name Stella has been associated with various meanings and symbols, including beauty, radiance, and the celestial heavens. Its connection to the Latin word for 'star' has made it a popular choice for parents seeking a name with a celestial or cosmic connotation.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Stella
People
Stella + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stella as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Stella: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stella?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 102,129 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stella 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 3,356 US residents.
Is Stella a common name?
We classify Stella as "Common". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 203,125 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stella most popular?
The single biggest year for Stella was 2018, when 5,163 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stella is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stella in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 93,369 people with the name Stella, or 30.91 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #572 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 Stella 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 Stella?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stella appears almost entirely female. Of the 93,368 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Stella?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stella is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.3%) and Black (7.8%). 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 Stella most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stella in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (61,158 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 Stella in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stella a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Stella 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 Stella still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stella 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 Stella 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 Stella?
Want to know how many people share the name Stella? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.