Angela

What Angela means

Means “messenger, angel”

Feminine form of Church Latin Angelus, from Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos, “messenger, angel”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Angela” (revision 93572697), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Angela?

US: Falling: down from #220 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #570 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1975, when 23,361 girls got the name (#5 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 2,101 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 9,742 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,578 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 DE (2.22 per 1,000 girls), AZ (0.92 per 1,000 girls), NV (0.87 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Angela is #408 in the US and #1229 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 Angela were girls.

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

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the US pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Angely90 US
• Angeli45 US
• Angelly17 US
• Angelli12 US
• Angella11 US
• Angelee6 US
• Anjela5 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.

Nicknames

• Angie
• Ang
• Ange

Listed on Wiktionary under “pet forms”.

If you like Angela

Girls

• Sara#198Variant of Sarah, meaning “masters, princes”^*
• Christina#770Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 16,600 babies; 352 in 2025
• Nancy#965Editor’s note More popular in England & Wales than the US: #78 vs #965 in 2025
• Kathryn#729Variant of Catherine, possibly meaning “each of the two”^*
• Andrea#235Feminine form of Andreas, meaning “manly”^*
• Cassandra#630Editor’s note Down from #512 in 2015 to #630 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Christopher#68“carrier of Christ”^*
• Dennis#707“follower of (the wine god) Dionysus”^*
• Steven#271“crown, wreath”^*
• Timothy#203“to honour + god”^*
• Phillip#651Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1960, with 6,047 babies; 425 in 2025
• Gregory#593“watchful, vigilant”^*

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