Annabella
Feminine · “lovable”
Annabella is the fullest, most Latinate form of a name Scotland has been writing down since the Middle Ages — a queen consort of Scots in the late fourteenth century, Annabella Drummond, carried it. Four syllables that rise and fall evenly, and every one of them familiar: Anna at the front, bella at the back, nothing a stranger has to puzzle out.
How old is the name Annabella?
Annabella first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Annabella alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 14,500 people named Annabella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Annabella most popular?
Annabella peaked in 2014, reaching #256 nationally. Today it ranks #1352, 1,096 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Annabella appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Amabilis to Annabella
The story of Annabella
The name surfaces in medieval Scotland, where Annabel, Anabel and the Latin-flavored Annabella all appear in records alongside one another — Annabella Drummond, wife of Robert III, was queen consort of Scots at the end of the fourteenth century. From Scotland it traveled south into English use, and the -ella ending kept it at home in Italian and Spanish too, where Anna and bella are ordinary words. English speakers later leaned toward the French-looking Annabelle, while Annabella held its ground as the older, longer form. All three spellings are still in circulation, which is the clearest sign of how many roads this name has taken.
Meaningscholars disagree
'lovable', or read as 'Anna' plus Latin bella, 'beautiful'
Two serious readings compete. The older trail runs back through medieval Annabel to Amabel, from Latin amabilis, 'lovable' — the Scottish forms look like reshapings of that. The other treats the name as a straightforward compound of Anna with Latin bella, 'beautiful', which is certainly how speakers of Italian and Spanish have understood it for centuries. Both are genuinely in play, and the second has shaped the name's life whether or not it explains its birth.
How the name formed
- Amabilis
- Amabel
- Annabel
- Annabella
Related forms: Annabel · Annabelle · Annabella · Anabella · Annabella · Annabel
Pronouncing Annabella
an-uh-BEL-uh
Stress on the third syllable. Italian and Spanish speakers say it much the same way, with a purer 'ah' at the start.
Nicknames for Annabella
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 20131,172 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #256reached in 2014
- Change vs 2023
- −17.7%163 in 2025, from 198
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.
Annabella in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Annabel in English — related form
- Annabelle in French — related form
- Annabella in Italian — same name
- Anabella in Spanish — spelling variant
- Annabella in Hungarian — same name
- Annabel in Dutch — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, Texas.
Annabellas among us
people named Annabella are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 9,861 born in 2025 was named Annabella
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Annabella
- #1352
- Annabella on the 2025 chart
- #713
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Annabella went to 163 girls in 2025, but Anabella and Anabela are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 249, which makes it the 713th most-given girls’ name of the year — 639 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 6,455 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 9,861 for Annabella 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 Glenna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Annabella's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Glenna climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Glenna's path sketches the road Annabella is walking now.
Annabella 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 Annabella is headed
Annabella is easing off slowly — about 27% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium 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.
Annabella beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Annabella in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Every syllable is already familiar in English — Anna and Bella are both common names, so it is read correctly on first sight.
- An unusually deep bench of short forms: Bella, Anna, Annie, Ella, Belle, each of which works as a full name too.
- A documented record stretching back to medieval Scotland, so it is a long name without being an invented one.
- Works unchanged in Italian and Hungarian, and with a one-letter shift in Spanish.
- Annabelle, Anabella and Annabel all exist and all sound close to identical. Expect to spell it out often, and expect forms to come back wrong now and then.
- Four syllables is a lot of name, and it pairs awkwardly with long surnames. Most bearers end up going by Bella or Anna in daily life, which is worth being at peace with in advance.
- Bella has been heavily used on its own in recent decades, so the short form will not feel rare even though the full name does.
- The full spelling has stepped back from its high point, so it reads as belonging to a particular stretch of years rather than as an evergreen — though it has been in the American record far longer than that stretch.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Annabella to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Annabella? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Annabella
Feminine · #1352 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Annabellas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,500 people named Annabella are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Annabella?
- Annabella is the most-used spelling in US records — 163 of the 249 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Anabella and Anabela.
- How popular is the name Annabella in 2025?
- Annabella ranks #1352 among US girl names in 2025, with 163 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Annabella?
- About 1 in every 9,861 US girls born in 2025 was named Annabella — 163 in all.
- Will my child share the name Annabella with classmates?
- Annabella will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Annabella
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aubrie#1352 · Lillianna#1352 · Devorah#1352 · Lexie#1352 · Leora#1352 · Hailee#1352 · Gianni#1348 · Farah#1348
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Annabella? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Annabella and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle