A few days ago Holly Willoughby gave birth to a daughter named Belle. Unlike her brother, Harry, Belle doesn't have a top 5 name -- in fact, her name ranks all the way down at #530 -- and yet, the name has a lot going for it. Let's have a look.
Firstly, although Bel started its beginnings as a nickname for Isabel in the thirteenth century it has become widely associated with the lovely french word belle meaning 'beautiful' - hence the change of spelling. Not a bad meaning for any little girl to have.
There is also its fairytale status. Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont abridged the classic French tale in her work La Belle et la Bête in the eighteenth century and this is largely the form of the story we now have today. Disney brought the story story into glorious life in 1991 giving Belle the veritable status of being a 'Princess' name. Beautiful + Princess = winning baby name me thinks!
So why is it not used very much? There are actually many similar sounding names that rank quite highly in England and Wales. Isabelle is #17, Isabel #51 and Isobel #60 (combined spellings added together, the name ranks #10 overall) and Isabella at #15. Similarly there is Annabel/le which (added together) ranks at #69, Bella at #165 and Arabella at #296. Perhaps, many of these enjoy Belle as a nickname, although Izzy's rank at #506 seems to belie that.
Belle is the simplest, most-streamlined, of all these. Arguably Bella is too, but that is swiftly gaining a persistent Twilight association. Belle maintains the soft delicate feel without feeling fussy and would, I think, make a fresher nickname alternative to Izzy (Isabelle) or Annie (Annabel), or sit happily as a stand alone name.
For a look at how Edwardian parents used Belle take a look at its 1911 Census Name Combos.
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