Variant spelling of Angela, from Greek angelos meaning "messenger" or "angel."
Angella is a variant spelling of Angela, a name with one of the clearest etymological paths in the Western naming tradition: from the Latin angelus and its Greek source angelos, meaning 'messenger' — specifically the divine messenger, the angel. Early Christians adopted the term to describe celestial beings who carried God's word to humanity, and from the fifth century onward the name Angela appeared in Christian Europe as a name for those dedicated to holiness and service.
The doubled 'l' in Angella reflects Italian and Spanish orthographic influence, where gemination adds a musical stress to the central syllable. Saint Angela Merici, the sixteenth-century Italian founder of the Ursuline order — the first teaching order of women in the Catholic Church — gave the name lasting institutional significance in religious education. In the modern era, Angela has been worn by figures of formidable authority and intellect: Angela Davis, the American activist and philosopher; Angela Carter, the visionary British novelist; and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor who led Europe's largest economy for sixteen years with disciplined pragmatism.
The Angella spelling carries the same warm, luminous meaning as the standard form while adding a slight visual distinction — a nod, perhaps, to Italian roots or simply a family's desire to make the name distinctly their own. The name has never gone fully out of fashion precisely because 'messenger' and 'angel' are associations that transcend era, and the -ella ending gives it an inherent musicality.