Isabela
Meaning
“God is my oath (Spanish colonial classic)”
The story
Isabela is the Latinate form of Isabel, says Behind the Name, and Isabel is the medieval Occitan form of Elizabeth that spread through Spain, Portugal and France and became royal by the twelfth century; Elizabeth itself runs back through Greek to the Hebrew Elisheva, "my God is an oath". The single-l spelling's American line is recent: about 850 girls in the 1990s, about 5,340 in the 2000s, about 3,960 in the 2010s, and about 2,500 so far this decade. Brazil is where the name lives at scale: about 358,500 Isabelas, rank 77 in the country, median age twelve, with about 138,600 born in the 2010s alone. An oath in Hebrew, a royal road through Iberia, and a census that counts its bearers by the hundred thousand.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Isabela peaked in the 2000s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
358,542 people · the #77 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 566 · median age 12
Among people named Isabela living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 46,382 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Isabela
Most people given the name Isabela 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.
The Isabela deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Isabela 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 Isabela fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Isabela travels
Italian Brazilian · God is my oath (the Latinate form of Isabel, worn with a single l in Brazil)
Keep exploring
Italian Brazilian baby names · Portuguese and Brazilian baby names · Filipino baby names
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