Annabelle
Feminine · “Either "lovable" or”
Annabelle is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 67,543 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Annabelle began life in medieval Scotland as Annabel, and only later picked up the French-looking -belle ending that most American parents know today. It is a name that splits neatly in the mouth — three easy syllables, each one already familiar — and that has kept the same short forms for centuries: Anna, Annie, Belle.
How old is the name Annabelle?
Annabelle was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Annabelle alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 54,000 people named Annabelle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Annabelle most popular?
Annabelle peaked in 2014, reaching #57 nationally. Today it ranks #343, 286 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Where it comes from
From Amabilis to Annabelle
The story of Annabelle
The name surfaces in Scotland in the Middle Ages as Annabel or Annabella, a form that circulated among Scottish nobility — Annabella Drummond was queen consort to Robert III of Scotland, and died at the very start of the fifteenth century. From Scotland it spread through England and eventually across the Atlantic, where it has been recorded since American record-keeping began. Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee," published in 1849, fixed the shorter spelling in English literary memory. The -belle ending came later, shaped by French belle, and it is now the dominant American spelling of a very old name.
Meaningscholars disagree
Either "lovable" or, read as Anna + belle, "grace" plus "beautiful"
Name scholars generally trace Annabel back to Amabel, from Latin amabilis, "lovable." But the name was long ago reinterpreted as a compound of Anna and the French belle, "beautiful" — and the -belle spelling is a product of exactly that rereading. Both readings are genuinely in play; the second is the reason this form of the name exists at all.
How the name formed
- Amabilis
- Amabel
- Annabel
- Annabella
- Annabelle
Related forms: Annabel · Anabel · Annabella · Anabela · Annabelle · Amabel
Pronouncing Annabelle
AN-uh-bel
Stress on the first syllable. The final -belle sounds the same as the shorter Annabel — the extra letters are silent, which is precisely where the spelling trouble starts.
Nicknames for Annabelle
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
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20133,560 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #57reached in 2014
- Change vs 2022
- −10.6%891 in 2025, from 997
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.
Annabelle in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Annabel in English — spelling variant
- Anabel in Spanish — spelling variant
- Annabella in Italian — related form
- Anabela in Portuguese — related form
- Annabelle in French — same name
- Amabel in English (archaic) — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Annabelles among us
people named Annabelle are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,804 born in 2025 was named Annabelle
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kristina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Annabelle's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kristina climbed just as high around 1985, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kristina's path sketches the road Annabelle is walking now.
Annabelle is coming down from a big peak (#57 in 2014). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Annabelle is headed
Annabelle is easing off slowly — about 21% 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.
Annabelle beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Annabelle in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can pronounce it on sight, in English and in French, with no coaching required.
- An unusually deep bench of established short forms — Anna, Annie, Belle — each already a real name someone could grow into.
- A documented line running from medieval Scotland to the present, with no gap in use.
- Recognizable across Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and French in only slightly altered form.
- Currently stepping back from its high point, so a child is likely to be the only one in the class without the name being unfamiliar to anyone.
- Three spellings compete: Annabelle, Annabel and Anabelle. Whichever you pick will be written the other ways by other people, more or less permanently.
- The 2014 horror film Annabelle and its sequels attached the name to a possessed doll. It made no dent in the name's use, but it is the first thing an internet search returns, and worth knowing in advance.
- It sits inside a large family of -bella and -belle names, so it may be misheard as Isabella or Arabella, and nicknames can drift toward the generic Bella.
- Four syllables with a first name and surname together can run long on forms; most families lean on one of the short forms daily.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Annabelle to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Annabelle
Feminine · #343 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Annabelles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 54,000 people named Annabelle are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Annabelle in 2025?
- Annabelle ranks #343 among US girl names in 2025, with 891 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Annabelle?
- About 1 in every 1,804 US girls born in 2025 was named Annabelle — 891 in all.
- Will my child share the name Annabelle with classmates?
- Annabelle will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Annabelle
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ryleigh#343 · Leighton#342 · Aylin#345 · Teagan#340 · Heidi#340 · Paige#346 · Angelina#347 · Emory#339
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Annabelle? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Annabelle and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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