Baela is a name invented for fiction: it belongs to Baela Targaryen, a character in George R. R. Martin's Fire & Blood and in the HBO series House of the Dragon, which premiered in 2022. It has no traditional meaning and reads as a blend of Bella and Layla with a Targaryen twist. Baela first appeared in US birth records in 2023 and climbed quickly, from number 3768 in 2024 to number 2755 in 2025, with 62 girls given the name.