Anabelle
Feminine · “lovable”
Anabelle looks like Anna joined to belle, and that is probably not where it came from. The older name is Amabel, a Latin word meaning lovable, and Annabel appears to be what happened to it in Scottish mouths.
How old is the name Anabelle?
Anabelle first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Anabelle alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 8,700 people named Anabelle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Anabelle most popular?
Anabelle peaked in 2013, reaching #459 nationally. Today it ranks #2957, 2,498 places below that high. See the whole 2013 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From amabilis to Anabelle
The story of Anabelle
Amabel was in use in medieval England and produced Mabel as its short form, which outlived it. In Scotland the name appears as Annabel and Annaple from the twelfth century, carried by noblewomen, and it stayed a distinctively Scottish name for centuries before spreading. The modern spellings — Annabelle, Anabelle, Annabella — all lean toward the Anna-and-belle reading, which shows how thoroughly a folk etymology can reshape a name's spelling once people believe it.
Meaningscholars disagree
lovable — if the Amabel reading holds
Latin amabilis means lovable, and Amabel was a real medieval English name from it. Annabel is recorded in Scotland from the twelfth century and is generally read as a Scottish reshaping of Amabel, with the m becoming an n. The alternative reading — Anna joined to French belle, 'beautiful' — is the one most people assume and the one the modern spellings encourage, and it is almost certainly a later reinterpretation rather than the source.
How the name formed
- amabilis
- Amabel
- Annabel
- Anabelle
Related forms: Annabelle · Annaple · Mabel · Annabelle
Pronouncing Anabelle
AN-uh-bel
Three syllables, stress on the first, the final syllable given real weight. There is no ambiguity in the sound; the only question is how many n's and l's the spelling carries.
Nicknames for Anabelle
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 2014686 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #459reached in 2013
- Change vs 2023
- −18.8%56 in 2025, from 69
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Anabelle in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Annabelle in English — spelling variant
- Annaple in Scottish — related form
- Mabel in English — related form
- Annabelle in French — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Anabelles among us
people named Anabelle are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 28,701 born in 2025 was named Anabelle
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Anabelle
- #2957
- Anabelle on the 2025 chart
- #329
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Anabelle went to 56 girls in 2025, but Annabelle is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 947, which makes it the 329th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,628 places above the chart.
- Annabelle891
- Anabelle56
About 1 girl in 1,697 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 28,701 for Anabelle itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ruthann test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Anabelle's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ruthann climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ruthann's path sketches the road Anabelle is walking now.
Anabelle sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Anabelle is headed
Anabelle is easing off slowly — about 29% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Anabelle beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Anabelle in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Anna, Annie, Bella and Belle are four ready short forms, all of them established names.
- A documented medieval record going back eight centuries.
- Three syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- Annabelle is the standard spelling and this one will be corrected in writing for life.
- Annabelle, Anabelle, Annabel and Annabella all circulate and none but the first is standard.
- Its likely meaning is not the one the spelling suggests, which surprises people who look it up.
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What they receive
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Anabelle
Feminine · #2957 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Anabelles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,700 people named Anabelle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Anabelle?
- Anabelle is one of 2 recorded spellings. Annabelle is the more common one — 891 births in 2025 against 56 for Anabelle.
- How popular is the name Anabelle in 2025?
- Anabelle ranks #2957 among US girl names in 2025, with 56 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Anabelle?
- About 1 in every 28,701 US girls born in 2025 was named Anabelle — 56 in all.
- Will my child share the name Anabelle with classmates?
- Anabelle will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Anabelle
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Klaire#2957 · Pauline#2957 · Alea#2957 · Odelia#2957 · Rahaf#2957 · Rosabella#2957 · Kenzlee#2957 · Kalli#2957
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Anabelle? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Anabelle and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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