Given name & surname
Pele
“from the volcano”
Pele is used as a given name and a surname. One Hawaiian interpretation is “from the volcano.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Hawaiian interpretation is “from the volcano.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Hawaiian.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1973. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Pele through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 103
- 51 boys · 52 girls
- Most popular year
- 1981
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2021. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 9 in 1981. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 327 as a first name in 2020; 343 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.
Pele’s family of names
In Basque usage, Pele has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Felisa. Pele has a related form in Peleh.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Pele
- Pele BrobergGreenlandic politician, pilot and entrepreneurborn 1972
- Pele van AnholtDutch footballerborn 1991
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Pele, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Seneca
“a tribal name”
41% boys · 59% girls
Akela
“one who is noble”
33% boys · 67% girls
Alika
“one who is honest”
47% boys · 53% girls
Kalei
“an attendant of the king”
27% boys · 73% girls
Kaimi
“the seeker; one who searches” · “the seeker”
62% boys · 38% girls
Nana
“born during the spring; a star” · “a grandmother or one who watches over children”
50% boys · 50% girls
Kamalei
“child” · “a lei”
28% boys · 72% girls
Pekelo
“as solid and strong as a rock”
71% boys · 29% girls