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 [ 3 syll. an-ge-la, ang-ela ] The girl name Angela is pronounced AENJHahLah KEY. Angela's language of origin is Old Greek. It is predominantly used in Dutch, English, German, Italian, Romanian, Russian, and Slavic. The meaning of Angela is 'messenger of God, angel'. Biblical name derived from angelos 'angel, messenger' ; angelus 'angel'. In the past, this was mainly a Roman Catholic name often reserved for children born on the feast of Saint Michael and All Angels on 29 September. The name was borne by Saint Angela Merici of Brescia (1474-1540) the founder of the Order of Ursulines. It was adopted by English speakers in the 18th century. In the UK, the name is often associated with the fictional dancing mouse Angelina Ballerina in the popular children's books (1982-) by Katharine Holabird, while in the US, the name is famous from the actress Angelina Jolie (1975-). Angela is the feminine form of the English, Slavic, and Spanish Angel. The name Angela is widely used; it has 54 forms that are used in both English and foreign languages. English forms of the name include Angele (also used in French and Spanish), Angelea, Angelena, Angeles (also used in Spanish), Angelia, Angelica (also used in German, Russian, Greek, Italian, Romanian, and Spanish), Angelina (also used in German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish), Angelle, Angelyn, Angi, Angila, Angla, Angle, Anglea, Anjela, Anjele, Anjelina, Anjewela, Anji, Anjie, Lina (also used in Russian, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Polish, Spanish, and Italian), and Tangela. Other English forms include the short forms Ang, Ange (also used in Spanish), and Angel, the pet forms Angie and Angy, and the spelling variant Angella. Forms of Angela used in foreign languages include the Irish Aingeal, the Hawaiian Anakela, the Czech Andela, the Czech Andelka, the Slavic Andjela, the Slavic Andjelija, the Slavic Andjelka, the Hawaiian Anela, the German, Romanian, Lithuanian, and Polish Angelika, the Spanish Angelines, the Spanish Angelita, the Hungarian Angyal, the Hungarian Angyalka, the Polish Aniela, the Polish Anniela, the Russian Anzhela, the Spanish Ángela, the Portuguese Ângela, the Hebrew Erela, the Russian Gelya, and the Basque Gotzone. Specific foreign variants include the short form Gela (German), and the pet forms Angeletta (Italian), Angelette (French), Angelien (Dutch), and Angeline (French). See also the related forms, the Italian Mariangela and the Italian Rosangela. Angela is a popular baby girl name. The name increased in popularity from the 1900s up to the 1970s; prior to that, it was of only modest use. At the height of its usage in 1975, 1.497% of baby girls were named Angela. It was #5 in rank then. The baby name has seen a steep drop in frequency since then. In 2008, it ranked at #133 with a usage of 0.122%, but it was nevertheless the 2nd most popular after the English, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish Angelina, within all girl names in its family. It was 69% more regularly used than Angela in 2008. The name Angela has been primarily given to girls, although it has also been used as a boy name in the last century. In 1977, 297 times more girls than boys were given the name Angela. Baby names that sound like Angela include the English Angila, the Spanish Ángela, the Portuguese Ângela, the Hawaiian Anakela, the Slavic Andjela, the Czech Andula, the English Angella, the English Anglea, the Indian Anjali, the English Anjela, the English Anjewela, the Indian Anjuli, the Russian Anzhela, the English, French, and Spanish Angele, the English Angelea, the English Angelia, the English Angle, the Hungarian Angyal, the English Anjele, and the English Ansley. A famous person named Angela is Actress Angela Lansbury, born 16 October 1925, London, England. KEY: Pronunciation for Angela: AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; JH as in "gee (JH.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
