Adele

What Adele means

Means “noble”

Borrowed from French Adèle, equivalent of Adela, from a Germanic root meaning “noble”.

Source: Wiktionary, “Adele” (revision 93950602), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Adele?

US: Falling: down from #645 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #585 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1914, when 709 girls got the name (#187 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 4,440 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 4,966 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 5,964 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NY (0.7 per 1,000 girls), IL (0.56 per 1,000 girls), NJ (0.54 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Adele is #751 in the US and #719 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Adele were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Adley339 US · 14 E&W
• Adel32 US · 9 E&W
• Adlee37 US
• Adelle28 US
• Aidel20 US · 6 E&W
• Addley12 US
• Adell8 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Adele

Girls

• Alice#65“noble + character”^*
• Emmeline#922Editor’s note Down from #810 in 2015 to #922 in 2025 in the US
• Adelaide#289“noble + nature, character”^*
• Emery#74Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #74 vs #1,197 in 2025
• Willa#422Editor’s note Up from #480 in 2015 to #422 in 2025 in the US
• Evelina#778Editor’s note Up from #1,354 in 2015 to #778 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Henry#5Editor’s note Up from #29 in 2015 to #5 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 140 US boys in the 2025 records
• Emery#814Editor’s note Down from #745 in 2015 to #814 in 2025 in the US
• Oliver#3Editor’s note Up from #19 in 2015 to #3 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 110 US boys in the 2025 records
• Everett#77Same root as Everard, meaning “wild boar + hard, brave”^*
• Emory#883Editor’s note Down from #830 in 2015 to #883 in 2025 in the US
• Milo#119Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #288 in 2015, #119 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Germanic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Adele’s. Rank is US 2025.