Estela is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Estelle and Stella and means "star", from the Latin stella; in Spanish the word estela also means the glowing trail left by a comet or a ship. It is a classic in Mexican and Brazilian families and is often shortened to Tela. Estela has hovered in the same range in the United States for decades, from number 1781 in 2000 to a peak of number 1584 in 2023 and number 1624 in 2025.