Stella

Where Stella comes from

From Latin stēlla (“star”). Noun sense 2 is after the protagonist of How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998).
— Wiktionary's entry for Stella
  • Latin
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #60 among girls — 414 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1971
    Stella McCartney born
    British fashion designer
  3. 1986
    Stella Mwangi born
    Kenyan-Norwegian singer, rapper and songwriter
  4. 2018
    Peak, #38
    5,164 babies named Stella — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2018
    The comeback
    Back to #38 after sinking to #1,322 in 1995.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Latin.
Namesakes
  • Stella McCartney · British fashion designer, born 1971
  • Stella Mwangi · Kenyan-Norwegian singer, rapper and songwriter, born 1986
  • Stella Adler · American actress and acting teacher, 1901–1992
  • Stella Stevens · American actress, 1938–2023
  • Stella Gibbons · British writer, 1902–1989

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.