Belia vs Bella
American parents have registered 83,766 Bellas since 1880, against 2,058 Belias. Bella is still ahead, with 2,129 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Belia Bella
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 146 years in which either name was published, Bella for 117 years and Belia for 29 years. The lead changed hands 22 times.
- 1880–1930 Bella ahead
- 1934–1962 Belia ahead, apart from 3 short spells
- 1967–2025 Bella ahead, apart from one short spell
16 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Belia | Bella | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 2,058 | 83,766 |
| Most in one year | 51 | 5,144 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 2,129 |
| Estimated living today | 1,200 | 79,000 |
| Median age today | 63 | 11 |
| Peak year | 1931 | 2010 |
| Best rank | 970th girls | 48th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 136th |
| First recorded | 1909 | 1880 |
| Girls / boys | 2,058 / 0 | 83,721 / 45 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Belias alive today are over 63; half the Bellas are over 11. That is 52 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Belia Texas (10.5×), Arizona (2.7×), California (1.6×)
- Bella Nevada (3.6×), Arizona (2.1×), Florida (2.0×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Belia and Bella.