Mabel
Feminine · “Lovable”
Mabel is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 142,284 girls against 409 boys since 1880.
Mabel began as a clipped, everyday form of Amabel — the Latin amabilis, "lovable" — worn smooth by medieval English speakers who had no patience for the first syllable. It has been in the mouth of English speakers for something like eight hundred years, and it still lands in two clean beats. Rare enough now that a Mabel is unlikely to share a classroom with another, and familiar enough that nobody has to ask how to write it down.
How old is the name Mabel?
Mabel was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Mabel alive today was born around 1916, making them about 109 years old. About 22,500 people named Mabel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Mabel most popular?
Mabel peaked in 1891, reaching #15 nationally. Today it ranks #201, 186 places below that high. See the whole 1891 chart.
Where it comes from
From Amabilis to Mabel
The story of Mabel
Amabilis was a Latin adjective before it was a name, and it became one in the early Christian centuries; medieval France and England turned it into Amabel, then wore the front off it to make Mabel. It was common in England from the twelfth century onward, then faded almost entirely, surviving mainly as the surnames Mabbs and Mapes. The Victorians pulled it back into daylight — Charlotte M. Yonge's hugely read novel The Heir of Redclyffe, published in the 1850s, is generally credited with the revival — and it crossed to America in that wave. There it belonged to Mabel Normand, the silent-comedy pioneer who directed Charlie Chaplin.
Meaning
Lovable
From the Latin amabilis, "lovable," by way of the medieval name Amabel.
Cultural footprint
Mabel Normand (b. 1892) — Silent-comedy pioneer who directed Charlie Chaplin
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Amabilis
- Amabel
- Mabel
- Maybelle
Related forms: Amabilis · Amabel · Amable · Máible · Maybelle · Mabelle
Pronouncing Mabel
MAY-bull
Stress on the first syllable. In medieval England the first vowel was short, closer to MAB-ul, which is where the surnames Mabbs and Mapes come from; the modern long-A pronunciation is universal now.
Nicknames for Mabel
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
- 19163,680 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #15reached in 1891
- Change vs 2022
- +48.2%1,522 in 2025, from 1,027
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.
Mabel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Amabilis in Latin — related form
- Amabel in Medieval English — related form
- Amable in French — related form
- Máible in Irish — same name
- Maybelle in English — spelling variant
- Mabelle in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Michigan. International figures from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland. Sources
Mabels among us
people named Mabel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,056 born in 2025 was named Mabel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Mabel 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 Mabel is headed
Mabel looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 29% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Mabel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Mabel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds, and short enough to write early — five letters, two syllables, no silent anything.
- Established short forms already in use: Mae, Mabs, Belle.
- A documented record in English going back to the twelfth century, with a Victorian revival on both sides of the Atlantic.
- Currently charts in England, Wales and Scotland as well as the United States, so it travels without explanation.
- Most living Americans named Mabel are of the oldest generations, so some people will hear it as a name from their grandparents' era rather than a current one. That gap is closing, but it is real right now.
- Mabelle, Maybelle and Mabelle-with-an-e all exist, so expect the occasional need to spell it out — a small correction, not a lifelong battle.
- It is on the way up, which cuts both ways: unusual today, but likely more common by the time a child born now reaches school.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Mabel to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Mabel
Feminine · #201 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Mabels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 22,500 people named Mabel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Mabel in 2025?
- Mabel ranks #201 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,522 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Mabel?
- About 1 in every 1,056 US girls born in 2025 was named Mabel — 1,522 in all.
- Will my child share the name Mabel with classmates?
- Mabel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Mabel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Noelle#202 · Lia#200 · Stevie#203 · Peyton#199 · Sara#198 · Kylie#204 · Olive#197 · Vera#205
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Mabel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Mabel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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