Ella

The name was carried into England by the Normans after 1066, appearing in Domesday Book records as a feminine given name among the Anglo-Norman aristocracy.

The earliest historical bearer of note is Ella, Countess of Salisbury (1187-1261), who founded Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire in 1232 and served as the first female sheriff of Wiltshire.

Her tomb effigy survives in the abbey she established, making her one of the most documented medieval English women.

Literary use of Ella spans multiple centuries. William Wordsworth referenced the name in his pastoral poetry, and Charles Lamb adopted the pseudonym Elia for his celebrated Essays of Elia (1823).

The name appears in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s correspondence and in the romantic novels of the 19th century.

The fairy tale Cinderella, derived from Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon of 1697, gave the name an indelible association with transformation through its diminutive form Ella.

Geographic distribution of Ella was concentrated in England, Germany, and Scandinavia through the 19th century, with parallel use in Hungary and the Czech lands.

In the United States, Social Security Administration records show Ella ranking in the top 20 from 1880 through the early 1900s, then declining sharply mid-century.

The name re-entered the SSA top 1000 in 1979, climbed back into the top 100 in 2002, and reached No. 17 by 2014, becoming one of the defining vintage revival names of the new century.

Contemporary bearers include the American jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), winner of 14 Grammy Awards and known as the First Lady of Song, whose recording of A-Tisket, A-Tasket in 1938 made her a household name.

British model Ella Richards, granddaughter of Keith Richards, the cookbook author Ella Mills behind Deliciously Ella, and the Canadian actress Ella Balinska further illustrate the name’s reach across the arts.