Given name & surname
Della
“born of the nobility”
Della is used as a given name and a surname. One German interpretation is “born of the nobility.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One German interpretation is “born of the nobility.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is German.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1880. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Della through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 70,949
- 139 boys · 70,810 girls
- Most popular year
- 1917
- 1,198 babies
- 2025
- 533
- #563 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +64%
- Rising fast
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 533 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 563 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 64.2% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 1,192 in 1917. In 2025, California had the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (31). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 20,486 as a first name in 2020; 515 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Della’s family of names
In English usage, Della has a related form in Delia. In English usage, Della has a related form in Adela. Della has a related form in Dell.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 10
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
- Adelavariant · English
- Deliavariant · English
- Delavariant
- Dellahvariant
- Dellvariant
- Dellenevariant
- Dellevariant
- Della Siegavariant
Show 2 moreShow fewer
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Della
- Della ReeseAmerican actress and singer (1931-2017)
- Della SowahGhanaian politician and member of parliamentborn 1959
- Della H. RaneyAfrican-American army nurse1912–1987
- Della JonesWelsh mezzo-sopranoborn 1946
- Ding DangChinese singerborn 1982
- Della Destiara HarisIndonesian badminton playerborn 1992
- Della FoxAmerican actor, singer and comedian (1870-1913)
- Della GriffinAmerican singer1922–2022
Characters named Della: Della Street (Confidential secretary of Perry Mason).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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