Arabella

a-ruh-BEHL-uh
Latin, Scottish
"yielding to prayer; lovable"

Arabella Origin and Meaning

The name Arabella is a girl's name of Latin origin meaning "yielding to prayer; lovable".

Arabella, lovely and elegant, has long been well used in Britain and finally made it onto the American list in 2005. A Top 50 choice in the UK, in the US in remains in the Top 300, given to around 1300 babies each year.

Arabella was used as a given name beginning in the 12th century with the birth of Arabella de Leuchars, granddaughter of William the Lion, King of Scotland. It is derived from the Latin orabilis, from which Arabella gets its meaning. Some scholars tie Arabella to Amabel, claiming that the former developed as a variation of the latter in Scotland, much like the name Annabel.

Arabella has been a great favorite in English novels, dating as far back as Samuel Richardson's Clarissa and Henry Fielding's Tom Jones, and also appeared in The Vicar of Wakefield, Dickens's Pickwick Papers, George Eliot's Felix Holt and Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure, and more recently in Harry Potter.

Arabella is the title of a lyric comic opera by Richard Strauss, and was chosen for their daughters by Ivanka Trump and Dr. Oz. A real life heroine is Arabella Mansfield (born Belle Aurelia), the first American woman to become a lawyer.

Though off its 2017 peak, Arabella is a sophisticated choice especially recommended for parents who love the super-popular Isabella but want something more distinctive.

# 227 in the US

Arabella Rank in US Top 1000

# 76 on Nameberry

Arabella Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Arabella Popularity

Famous People Named Arabella

  • Arabella Mansfield (born Belle Aurelia Babb)
    first woman lawyer in the U.S.
  • Arabella Weir
    British comedienne, actress, and writer
  • Arabella Churchill
    mistress of King James II of England
  • Arabella Steinbacher
    German classical violinist
  • Arabella Burton Buckley
    English scientist and author
  • Arabella Morton
    Australian actress
  • Arabella Spencer
    Churchill, granddaughter of British PM Winston Churchill
  • (Cosima) Arabella
    Asereba Kiesbauer, German,Austrian TV presenter
  • Arabella Rosalind Hungerford "Bella" Pollen
    English fashion designer and novelist
  • Arabella Árbenz
    Guatemalan model and actress; daughter of Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz
  • Arabella Field
    American actress
  • Arabella Fermor
    inspiration for Belinda in Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock
  • Arabella Goddard
    English pianist
  • Arabella Yarrington "Belle" Huntington
    2nd wife of American railway tycoon Collis Huntington; 2nd wife of Henry Huntington
  • Arabella Kennedy (b. 1956)
    stillborn daughter of U.S. President John F. Kennedy
  • Arabella Simone Eigenmann (b.2017)
    daughter of Geoff Eigenmann

Arabella in Pop Culture

  • "Arabella
    " comic opera by Richard Strauss and its main character
  • "Arabella
    " novel by Georgette Heyer and its main character
  • Arabella Danesi
    main character in 1968 film "Arabella"
  • Arabella Fermor
    subject of Alexander Pope's poem "The Rape of the Lock, 1712
  • Arabella
    main character in "The Female Quixote" by Charlotte Lennox, 1752
  • Arabella
    Clarissa Harlow's elder sister in Samuel Richardson's "Clarissa," 1745
  • Arabella Hunt
    character in Henry Fielding's "Tom Jones," 1749
  • Arabella Wilmont
    character in Oliver Goldsmith's "The Vicar of Wakefield," 1766
  • Arabella Allen
    'a black,eyed young lady, in a very nice little pair of boots' in Charles Dickens' "Pickwick Papers," 1836
  • Arabella Briggs
    character in W.M. Thackeray's "Vanity Fair," 1847
  • Arabella Trefoil
    husband,hunting character in "The American Senator," by Anthony Trollope, 1877
  • Arabella
    Duchess of Berwick, character in Oscar Wilde's "Lady Windermere's Fan," 1892
  • Arabella Donn
    character in Thomas Hardy's "Jude the Obscure," 1894
  • "Little Arabella Miller
    " nursery rhyme
  • Arabella Willow
    character in Shirley Jackson's "The Sundial"
  • Arabella Figg
    character in the Harry Potter series
  • Arabella Lucre
    character in Winifred Phelps' "Temptation Sordid or Virtue Rewarded"
  • Arabella
    character in the 1996 film 'Far Harbor'
  • Arabella Chandler
    character in American soap 'All My Children'
  • Arabella Whipple
    Lucy's mother in "The Ballad of Lucy Whipple" by Karen Cushman
  • Lady Arabella Marchand du Belmont
    character in 2011 TV movie 'A Princess for Christmas"
  • Princess Arabella
    character 2004 movie 'The Prince and Me"
  • "Arabella
    " song by the Arctic Monkeys
  • Arabella Strange
    character in Susanna Clarke's novel "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell"
  • Arabella
    the Spanish town Inigo grew up in in the book "The Princess Bride"
  • Arabella Bishop
    love interest in the 1935 movie "Captain Blood", played by Olivia de Havilland