Nela is a distinctive choice, ranked #807 in 2025. Your child is likely to be the only Nela in their class.
💎
UK Rank 2025
#807
Ad
About the Name Nela
Nela has seen a notable decline in recent years, dropping 120 places in five years. It was most popular in 2019 at #513 — parents choosing it today are making a deliberately counter-trend decision. The name has been a regular feature in UK records since 2005.
Nela is uncommon in the UK, so your child is very likely to be the only Nela in their class.
Nela Riehl — Nela Riehl is a German politician and teacher who is a Member of the European Parliament for Volt Europa, elected in the 2024 European parliament election.
Nela Zisser — Nela Louise Zisser is a New Zealand model and Miss Earth New Zealand 2013, as well as a competitive eater.
Biographical summaries are shortened from Wikipedia and are used under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence; those summaries remain available under that same licence.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the name Nela
Unlikely. With around 45 UK babies named Nela per year, your child will almost certainly be the only Nela in their class, and possibly the only one in the whole school.
Nela is declining: down 176 places since 2020, to #807 in 2025. It peaked at #513 in 2019.
Nela is a distinctive choice sitting outside the mainstream UK top names. Parents choosing less common names often find their children appreciate the individuality as they grow up, rarely needing to add an initial to distinguish themselves.
Notable people named Nela include: Nela Hasanbegović, Nela Riehl and Nela Zisser. Short summaries for each appear below.
Nela does not appear in the US top 1,000 baby names, making it a distinctively British choice — your child is unlikely to encounter American Nelas in the wild.
45
UK babies named Nela (2025)
< 1
Expected classmates with this name (class of 28)
~0.0
In a school of 600
↓ 176 places
Rank change (last 5 years)
🏫 Who else is in the room?
In a typical UK class of 28, highlighted children share the name Nela
Almost certainly the only Nela in the class
Ad
UK Popularity (2005–2025)
Rank and birth count · ONS official data
No US data available for this name
✨ Similar names to Nela
Names with a similar style — each with their own classroom story
Nela Riehl is a German politician and teacher who is a Member of the European Parliament for Volt Europa, elected in the 2024 European parliament election.
Nela Navarro is a professor at Rutgers University where she is an executive committee member of the UNESCO Chair in Genocide Prevention and the Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights.