Isabela
Feminine · “my God is an oath”
Isabela is the Portuguese and Romanian way of writing a name that has been in Europe since the Middle Ages, when Spanish and Occitan speakers reshaped Elizabeth into Isabel. Four syllables, all of them open and easy — ee-zah-BEH-lah in Brazil, iz-uh-BEL-uh in most American mouths. Queens of Castile and Portugal carried the shorter form for centuries before the ending -a came along.
How old is the name Isabela?
Isabela first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Isabela alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 12,500 people named Isabela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Isabela most popular?
Isabela peaked in 2004, reaching #442 nationally. Today it ranks #664, 222 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Isabela
The story of Isabela
The Hebrew name Elisheva reached Greek as Elisabet, and Latin Christendom as Elisabeth. In medieval Spain and southern France, speakers trimmed the front and softened the rest, and Isabel emerged as a name in its own right — carried by queens of Castile, Aragon and Portugal through the late Middle Ages. Portuguese and Romanian added the final -a, giving Isabela, while Italian produced Isabella with its doubled l. All three spellings crossed to the Americas, which is why the single-l form is thoroughly at home in Brazil and increasingly familiar in the United States.
Meaning
my God is an oath — via Elizabeth
Isabel began as a medieval Spanish and Occitan reworking of Elisabeth, from the Hebrew Elisheva. The two names circulated side by side for centuries and were often treated as one; Isabela adds the Portuguese and Romanian feminine ending.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Elisabet
- Elisabeth
- Isabel
- Isabela
Related forms: Isabel · Isabella · Isabelle · Izabela · Izabella · Elizabeth
Pronouncing Isabela
iz-uh-BEL-uh
Stress on the third syllable in English. Portuguese and Spanish speakers say it ee-zah-BEH-lah, with a clearer first vowel; both are correct for the same name.
Nicknames for Isabela
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
- 1982
- Most girls named
- 2004695 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #442reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- −6.6%426 in 2025, from 456
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.
Isabela in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Isabel in Spanish — same name
- Isabella in Italian — spelling variant
- Isabelle in French — same name
- Izabela in Polish — spelling variant
- Izabella in Hungarian — spelling variant
- Elizabeth in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Isabelas among us
people named Isabela are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,773 born in 2025 was named Isabela
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Isabela
- #664
- Isabela on the 2025 chart
- #8
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Isabela went to 426 girls in 2025, but Isabella and Izabella are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 11,661, which makes it the 8th most-given girls’ name of the year — 656 places above the chart.
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 138 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 3,773 for Isabela 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 Marybeth test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Isabela's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marybeth climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marybeth's path sketches the road Isabela is walking now.
Isabela is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Isabela is headed
Isabela should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Isabela beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Isabela in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Works unchanged in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Romanian — one spelling that a great many people can already read.
- A documented line back through medieval Iberia to the Hebrew Elisheva, unbroken for well over a thousand years.
- Several established short forms — Bella, Isa, Bela, Izzy — so there is room for a formal and an informal version.
- Familiar enough that no one asks what it is, while a child carrying it is unlikely to share it with a classmate.
- The double-l Isabella is far more common in the United States, so Isabela will be autocorrected and rewritten with two l's fairly often. Most people with the name learn a quick, cheerful spelling-out early.
- Bella as a nickname is shared with Isabella, Annabella, Arabella and Bella itself, so it identifies a child less clearly than the full name does.
- English and Portuguese pronunciations differ in the first vowel. Both are legitimate, but a family that uses one may hear the other daily from teachers and neighbors.
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What they receive
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Isabela
Feminine · #664 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Isabelas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 12,500 people named Isabela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Isabela?
- Isabela is one of 3 recorded spellings. Isabella is the more common one — 10,666 births in 2025 against 426 for Isabela.
- How popular is the name Isabela in 2025?
- Isabela ranks #664 among US girl names in 2025, with 426 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Isabela?
- About 1 in every 3,773 US girls born in 2025 was named Isabela — 426 in all.
- Will my child share the name Isabela with classmates?
- Isabela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Isabela
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jessica#665 · Myra#662 · Legacy#662 · Paislee#666 · Marisol#666 · Jolene#666 · Oakleigh#666 · Briana#661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Isabela? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Isabela and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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