Mabel
Meaning
lovable
The story
Mabel is Latin amabilis worn down to two syllables, simply lovable, and it joins the great-grandmother cohort these batches have been reassembling: Elsie, Olive, Vera and Lena now have their fifth sister. The scale of the first life is easy to forget: nearly 31,000 girls in the 1910s alone, about 129,000 across the record. The trough was deep, under 800 a decade through the 1970s, 80s and 90s, a generation and more in the drawer. The return is now unmistakable: about 1,100 in the 2000s, 4,700 in the 2010s, and already 6,600 so far this decade, past the full 2010s with years to run. In our records it goes to girls about 129,200 to 380, all girls this decade. The meaning never needed a dictionary; a name that just says lovable was always going to get a second century.
Mabel's name family
One shared root links 4 names across 2 languages.
Shared root: from Latin amabilis "lovable", medieval Amabel; the Ann- forms were later reshaped toward Anna + belle
The family
More branches
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Mabel peaked in the 1890s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
3,302 people · the #3,636 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 62,500 · median age 45
Among people named Mabel living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 158 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Mabel
People given the name Mabel in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 2025. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Mabel deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Mabel 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 Mabel fits with your family’s names and surname.
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