Belle
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Meaning
beautiful; immortalized by Belle in Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991)
The story
Belle is the French word for beautiful, plain and unadorned, and for a long while that was enough: nineteenth-century Americans used it on its own and as the warm short form of Isabelle and Annabelle, and it gave English the phrase every Southern novel leans on, the belle of the ball. The name drifted out of fashion through the middle of the twentieth century, thinning to a whisper in the records. Then Disney's Beauty and the Beast arrived in 1991 with a heroine who preferred books to suitors, and Belle became the bookish, brave princess a generation grew up adoring. The name's climb back began around the 2000s, a beat after the film, and while no one can prove the connection, the timing is hard to ignore. Today Belle sits about where it did in the 1890s, freshly polished and quietly rising.
The formal names behind Belle
Belle is an established short form of each of these names.
Isabella · Hebrew origin · "God is my oath," as the medieval form of Elizabeth that Spain, Portugal, and Italy made their own; the name of queens from Castile to England, and a four-syllable classic that softens to Bella, Izzy, and Isa
Isabel · Hebrew origin · a medieval Occitan form of Elizabeth, traditionally "God is my oath"
Annabelle · Scottish origin · blend of Anna and Belle ("beautiful")
Arabella · Scottish origin · meaning uncertain, possibly "yielding to prayer"
How popular is Belle around the world?
In the United States, 1,522 babies were named Belle between 2020 and 2025. In Scotland, 12 girls named Belle were registered in 2024, the 295th most common name among girls that year.
Belle is on the official records of the United States, Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales, Canada, South Australia, Montevideo and Brazil.
United States
1 in 14,000
In the United States, 1,522 babies were named Belle between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Belle peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Scotland
1 in 3,800
In Scotland, 12 girls named Belle were registered in 2024, the 295th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
Ireland
1 in 4,500
In Ireland, 12 girls named Belle were born in 2025, the 325th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
England and Wales
1 in 5,600
In England and Wales, 105 girls named Belle were born in 2025, the 396th most common name among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 15,000
In Canada, 25 girls named Belle were born in 2024, ranked 1,050th among girls that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 girl was registered as Belle in 2017.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Montevideo City
1 in 25,0002011
In Montevideo, 1 boy named Belle was born in 2011, spelling variants counted together.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
Argentina
last on record 2023
Belle is not on the 2024 record for Argentina, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 87 people in Brazil were named Belle, ranked 45,476th, with a median age of 6.
Among people named Belle living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 33 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Mexico City City
last on record 2016
Belle is not on the 2022 record for Mexico City, where small counts are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
New Zealand
last on record 2024
Belle is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Not on the record in Spain, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Belle
Most people given the name Belle in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Belle deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Belle truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Belle fits with your family’s names and surname.
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