Apela as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Apela

What is the meaning of the name Apela ?

The baby name Apela is a Unisex name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced ah-PEH-lah (IPA: /aˈpɛ.la/).

Apela is in Origin.

Apela is a Polynesian/Hawaiian adaptation of the Biblical name Abel, ultimately from Hebrew Hevel, meaning “breath,” “vapor,” or “transience.” Hawaiian phonology lacks the consonant b, so p is used instead, and vowels are inserted to smooth clusters, yielding A-pe-la. The name therefore carries the poetic sense of life’s fleeting breath and, by extension, innocence and fragility, echoing the story of Abel in Genesis.

The form Apela spread with nineteenth-century Christian missions and appears in Kingdom of Hawaiʻi records; it remains in modern use, as seen with Native Hawaiian scholar Apela Colorado. Common variants include ʻApela in Hawaiian orthography, Apelu (Samoan and Tongan), and Apera (Māori and Tahitian). International equivalents are Abel (English, Spanish, Dutch, and others), Ábel (Hungarian), and Abele (Italian). The name is typically masculine but can be used unisex in contemporary settings. Related nicknames may include Pela.

⚙ Apela is extremely rare. Across 5 countries, we found just 6 recorded uses of it.