Arabella

Where Arabella comes from

Uncertain, used in Scotland since the sixteenth century; possibly from Latin orabilis (“yielding to prayer”) or a variant of Annabel.
— Wiktionary's entry for Arabella
  • Latin
  • 4 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1648
    Arabella Churchill born
    Mistress of James II of England
  2. 1817
    Arabella Elizabeth Roupell born
    British painter, botanical and scientific illustrator
  3. 1881
    First appearance
    #679 among girls, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  4. 2017
    Peak, #156
    1,890 babies named Arabella — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from Latin.
Namesakes
  • Arabella Churchill · Mistress of James II of England, 1648–1730
  • Arabella Elizabeth Roupell · British painter, botanical and scientific illustrator, 1817–1914
  • Arabella Mansfield · American lawyer and suffragist, 1846–1911
  • Arabella Dorman · British war artist and portrait painter, born 1975
  • Arabella Steinbacher · German violinist, born 1981

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.