Head to head · Girls' names
Adaline vs Arabella
#208 vs #213 in 2025
Adaline is a whisker ahead (#208 vs #213 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Adaline is climbing the charts fast, Arabella is holding its place on the charts.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Adaline leads 4 measures of 6; Arabella leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Adaline #495, Arabella #841 — Adaline higher
- 1890s: Adaline #657, Arabella #1188 — Adaline higher
- 1900s: Adaline #760, Arabella #1412 — Adaline higher
- 1910s: Adaline #830, Arabella #1690 — Adaline higher
- 1920s: Adaline #1067, Arabella #2242 — Adaline higher
- 1930s: Adaline #2068, Arabella #2901 — Adaline higher
- 1940s: Adaline #3230, Arabella #3988 — Adaline higher
- 1950s: Adaline #4231, Arabella #4371 — Adaline higher
- 1960s: Adaline #4961, Arabella #5590 — Adaline higher
- 1970s: Adaline #8060, Arabella #7090 — Arabella higher
- 1980s: Adaline #8584, Arabella #8333 — Arabella higher
- 1990s: Adaline #6949, Arabella #4510 — Arabella higher
- 2000s: Adaline #2963, Arabella #1062 — Arabella higher
- 2010s: Adaline #889, Arabella #225 — Arabella higher
- 2020s: Adaline #236, Arabella #212 — Arabella higher
Adaline stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Arabella has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Adaline | Arabella |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #495 | #841 |
| 1890s | #657 | #1188 |
| 1900s | #760 | #1412 |
| 1910s | #830 | #1690 |
| 1920s | #1067 | #2242 |
| 1930s | #2068 | #2901 |
| 1940s | #3230 | #3988 |
| 1950s | #4231 | #4371 |
| 1960s | #4961 | #5590 |
| 1970s | #8060 | #7090 |
| 1980s | #8584 | #8333 |
| 1990s | #6949 | #4510 |
| 2000s | #2963 | #1062 |
| 2010s | #889 | #225 |
| 2020s | #236 | #212 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Adaline
Not charting outside the US.
Arabella
- England & Wales#30
- Scotland#42
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Adaline
noble
The root is Germanic adal, "noble", the same element behind Adela, Adele and Adelina; Adaline and Adeline are Latinate diminutive forms of it.
Adal → Adela → Adelina → Adeline → Adaline
How it traveled
The story begins with the Germanic name element adal, "noble", which produced short names like Adela and Adala among the Frankish nobility. Latin writers extended these into Adelina, and Norman French carried Adeline into England after the Conquest, where it stayed in use through the medieval period.
Arabella
Either "lovable" or "yielding to prayer" — the two readings compete
One line derives Arabella from Latin amabilis, "lovable", through the medieval names Amabel and Annabel; the other from Latin orabilis, roughly "able to be entreated, yielding to prayer". Both are serious proposals and neither has won. Despite the look of the first four letters, there is no documented connection to the word Arab.
Amabilis → Amabel → Arabel → Arabella
How it traveled
The name surfaces in medieval Scotland, where records show Arabella beside the closely related Arabel and Amabel among aristocratic families — the same circles that used Annabel. From there it spread into England, and by the seventeenth century it was well established in noble English use; Lady Arbella Stuart, a cousin of James VI and I, carried a variant of it.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Adaline
AD-uh-line
The most common American reading rhymes the last syllable with "line". Some families say AD-uh-lin, and the -leen ending belongs more to Adelina. Whichever you choose, expect to state it once when introducing her.
- Addie — The most-used short form for both Adaline and Adeline; also stands alone as a given name in its own right.
- Ada — A complete given name with its own separate history, used here as a shortening.
- Lina — Takes the back half of the name; also an independent given name in several European languages.
- Addy — The same short form with a different spelling; common in informal writing.
- Also Dell.
Arabella
a-ruh-BEL-uh
Stress on the third syllable, which keeps it distinct from Annabella. The first vowel is the short a of cat, and it is rarely mispronounced once seen.
- Bella — The most used short form, and a registered given name in its own right.
- Belle — Informal; also stands alone as a given name and as a French word for beautiful.
- Ara — Informal short form taken from the front of the name rather than the end.
- Bee — Family-level nickname, usually spoken more than written.
- Also Ellie, Arbell.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Adaline if you want…
- a name on the way upup 79 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesAdaline is 3 syllables to Arabella's 4
- a long American recordAdaline was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Arabella if you want…
- a name holding steadyArabella is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itArabella runs 4 syllables, Adaline 3
- a name that charts abroad tooArabella is on the national lists of England & Wales and Scotland
- a newer arrivalArabella entered the US charts in 1881
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Adaline
Strengths
- Two ready-made short forms, Addie and Ada, both of which also work as full names on a document.
- The meaning is settled and simple: noble, from the Germanic root adal.
- Recognizable to most English speakers through the near-twin spelling Adeline, so it is never an unfamiliar shape.
To consider
- The A-versus-E problem is permanent. Adeline is the better-known spelling, and Adaline will be written back at her as Adeline, Adalyn or Adelyn for life. Nothing serious, but it means spelling it out often.
- The final syllable has no single agreed sound — AD-uh-line and AD-uh-lin both circulate — so people will guess, and sometimes guess differently.
- It is climbing, and quickly. A name that feels uncommon now may be considerably more familiar by the time she starts school; the Addie/Adalyn/Adeline cluster is busy overall.
Arabella
Strengths
- Ready-made short forms at both ends of the name — Bella, Belle, Ara — so a child has options without a nickname having to be invented.
- Documented in Britain since the Middle Ages, an unusually long unbroken written record for a name still given today.
- Spelled the way it sounds for most English speakers, and also charting in England and Wales and in Scotland, its home ground.
To consider
- Bella is a crowded nickname. With Isabella, Gabriella and Bella itself all in wide use, she may share a shortened name with other children even while her full name stays uncommon.
- Arabella, Arabelle, Annabella and Annabel are near neighbors, and expect a fair number of people to hear or write the wrong one on first meeting.
- Four syllables want a surname that can hold them; two- and three-syllable last names sometimes ask to be said slowly.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Adaline and Arabella in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Seven-letter names, ranked by real use
- Names ending in -ine / -een
- The steadiest names in America
- Four-syllable names that carry
- all guides
Where Adaline and Arabella each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Adaline or Arabella — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Adaline or Arabella?
- Adaline, in 2025: Adaline ranked #208 with 1,446 babies; Arabella ranked #213 with 1,423 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Adaline or Arabella?
- Adaline. Over the last five years Adaline moved up 79 places; Arabella moved down 11 places.
- Which is the older name, Adaline or Arabella?
- Adaline was already in use when US records began in 1880; Arabella entered the US charts in 1881. On the American record, Adaline is the older name.
- How many people are named Adaline and Arabella?
- About 17,000 people named Adaline are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 27,000 people named Arabella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Adalines or Arabellas in the classroom?
- Adaline will almost certainly be the only one in school. Arabella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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