Della
Meaning
diminutive of Adela or Adelaide (adal, "noble"); famously borne by Della Reese
The story
Della is a diminutive of Adela or Adelaide, from the Germanic adal, "noble", and its famous bearer, Behind the Name notes, was the actress and singer Della Reese. The American record runs a complete century-cycle: about 6,400 girls in the 1890s, about 10,400 in the 1920s, a long fade to about 510 in the 1990s, then the turn, about 720 in the 2000s, about 2,200 in the 2010s, and about 2,600 so far this decade, already past the whole 2010s total. The formal names behind it, Adela and Adelaide, keep their own records; this line is the diminutive's own, recorded under its own spelling, noble at the root, familiar in the ear, and climbing the same staircase it came down a century ago.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Della peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
The Della deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Della truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Della fits with your family’s names and surname.
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