UK girl's name
Fenella
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Fenella is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Fenella popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #2771, with 9 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 1996, with 26 births.
This profile covers 423 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales and NRS Scotland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 35% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 423 living people in the UK are called Fenella. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Fenella ranked #2771 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 9 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 1996, when 26 girls were registered as Fenella.
- • Fenella ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #793 in 2008.
- • About 423 living people in the UK are estimated to have Fenella as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#2771
2024
Births in 2024
9
Latest year
Peak year
1996
26 births
Estimated living
423
2026
Popularity
Fenella over time
The chart below shows babies named Fenella registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Fenella, the clearest high point is 1996. The latest England and Wales figure is 9 births in 2024, compared with 26 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Fenella by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Fenella was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #3163 | 40 | 5 |
| 2010s | #2474 | 106 | 10 |
| 2000s | #1337 | 189 | 10 |
| 1990s | #965 | 88 | 4 |
Geography
Where Fenella is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Fenella. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Fenella ranks best in Scotland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #793 in 2008.
Across the UK
Fenella in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#793 in 2008
1 years of NRS records, 3 total registered
Related
Names similar to Fenella
- Freya 50,564
- Florence 32,908
- Francesca 18,752
- Faith 14,325
- Fatima 11,112
- Faye 8,999
- Felicity 8,554
- Frankie 6,977
- Ffion 6,115
- Flora 3,499
- Frances 3,417
- Fatimah 3,065
FAQ
Fenella: questions and answers
How popular is the name Fenella in the UK right now?
In 2024, Fenella was ranked #2771 for girls in England and Wales, with 9 births registered.
When was Fenella most popular?
The peak year on record was 1996, with 26 babies registered as Fenella in England and Wales.
How many people are called Fenella in the UK?
A total of 423 babies have been registered as Fenella across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 3 more in Scotland.
Where is Fenella most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Fenella ranks best in Scotland, where it placed #793 in 2008. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.