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Girl · Scottish (origin unknown)
Arbella
Say it: ar-BEL-uh
Meaning
A Scottish name of uncertain origin; often linked to Annabel or Latin orabilis 'yielding to prayer', but neither is proven.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
A Scottish name taken up in English noble circles in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Its wave through time
Rare in the records
In the United States
- 64 babies given this name since 1908
- At its height in 1908, about 1 in 55,700 girls
- 7 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Arabella, Arbel
Famous bearers
- Lady Arbella Stuart
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.