MEANING & HISTORY
What does Adela mean?
Adela began as a short form of Germanic names starting with adal, noble. Unlike a two-element compound, it retains one clear name-element as an independent form.
Saint Adela, a Frankish princess associated with a monastery at Pfalzel, is part of its medieval history. The meaning refers to historical nobility vocabulary rather than a guarantee of social rank. Adela and Adelaide are related through that root but are not identical formations.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /ʔaˈdela/Standard-Tagalog
- [ʔɐˈd̪ɛː.lɐ]Standard-Tagalog
A · de · la3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
a female given name
CebuanoEtymology & source
a female given name
EnglishEtymology & source
Latinate form of French Adèle, short form of Germanic compound names beginning with Proto-Germanic *aþalaz (“noble”). Compare Old English æþele, English athel.
A female given name from the Germanic languages.
SpanishEtymology & source
a female given name, equivalent to English Adela or Adele
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Adela
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Adela Serra-Ty
Filipina Politician, Matriarch of the wealthy and landed Ty family.
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
3
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
2
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Adela Serra-Ty, Adela Sanchez Banzon
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Adela in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Adela
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Adel♂Germanic noble-name form; also Arabic just
- Ada♀Germanic noble-name short form; also Hebrew Adah
- Adelina♀Affectionate form in the Adela family; noble
- Adlai·Biblical Hebrew name, compared with Adalia
- Adlaw·Sun; day
- Angela♀Messenger; feminine form related to Angelus
- Ángela♀Feminine Angel-name form; messenger
- Aniela♀Messenger, through Angela
What rhymes with Adela?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Adela further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q16146675 — Adela (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Adela Serra-Ty (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q16146675 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Adela Sanchez Banzon (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q16146675 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Adela (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Adela (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Adela (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Adela (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Adela (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.