MEANING & HISTORY
What does Marcela mean?
Marcela is the Spanish and Portuguese feminine form in the Marcellus family. Marcellus is a diminutive of Marcus, traditionally associated with Mars.
The ending creates a feminine personal-name form rather than a separate root. Marcela is distinct in exact spelling from Marcella but shares a documented Latin family relationship.
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
- /maɾˈsela/Standard-Tagalog
- [mɐɾˈsɛː.lɐ]Standard-Tagalog
Mar · ce · la3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Spanish
- /maɾˈθela/
- [maɾˈθe.la]
- /maɾˈsela/
- [maɾˈse.la]
Mar · ce · 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
Borrowed from Spanish Marcela.
a female given name from Spanish, equivalent to English Marcella
Wiktionary: Marcela (Tagalog) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
SpanishEtymology & source
a female given name, equivalent to English Marcella
Wiktionary: Marcela (Spanish) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
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 Marcela
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
Marcela Agoncillo
Seamstress (1859-1946)
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
2
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
1
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Marcela Agoncillo
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Marcela 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 Marcela
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
- Marcel♂French form of Marcellus, a Marcus-family diminutive
- Marcelo♂Form of Marcellus, a diminutive of Marcus
- Carmela♀From Mount Carmel; Hebrew garden
- Manuela·God is with us, through the Manuel name family
- Marcelina♀Feminine form in the Marcellinus name family
- Maricel♀Blend of María with Celia or Cecilia
- Mariel♀Mary-family form with an el ending
- Marla♀Form of Marlene with a la ending
What rhymes with Marcela?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Marcela 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 Q19798827 — Marcela (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Marcela Agoncillo (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q19798827 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Marcela (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Marcela (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Marcela (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.
- Wiktionary: Marcel (English) (opens in a new tab)
Consulted source-name etymology or explicit sense relationship supporting the stated formation.