Name of the Week

The new belle of the ball is vivacious Bella.
Watch her as she flies up the charts.

 

Origin:

Bella originally came into use as a given name, as a diminutive of names ending in -bella, such as Isabella, Arabella, Annabella, Christabella and the like.  It was later connected, in its own right, with the Italian and Spanish bella "beautiful," as Belle was connected with the cognate French belle.  Both words derive from the Latin bella, the feminine form of bellus meaning "beautiful, fair." In addition, bella was also used as the feminine form of bellum "war" and the two forms often merged. Bellatrix, for example meant "(feminine) warrior" in Latin.

Usage:

Bella has been used as a short form of -bella names since at least the 17th century. A small handful of baptisms can be found with the name use independently from the late 16th century, but these are mostly centred in Northumberland. More often it was used in a compound name such as Anna-Bella, Hannah-Bella, Maria-Bella and Sara-Bella or as a short form for Isabella, Annabella et al. Bella was more commonly recorded in baptism records independently in the 18th century. Intriguingly, most of this usage was in the most northern counties of England — Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham and Westmorland especially, but also Yorkshire and Lancashire — and their neighbouring border Scottish counties of Roxburgh, Berwick and Dumfries.  In the 19th century, Bella moved more into popular culture appearing in newspaper serialised novels such as "Bringing Out Daughters" in 1829 and Charles Dickens' Our Mutual Friend in 1864. The name did indeed grow in usage marginally throughout the 19th century, peaking in 1910, but then declined steadily again, which we can see from birth registrations in England and Wales: 1840: 16 births; 1850: 15; 1860: 18; 1870: 26; 1880: 42; 1890: 53; 1990: 59; 1910: 71; 1920: 59; 1930: 24; 1940: 4; 1950: 3; 1960: 3; 1970: 5; 1980: 9; 1990: 8 Even at its peak, these numbers were never enough for Bella to crack the Top 200 most popular names. We should bear in mind of course, that with so many names ending in -bella, Bella has inevitably been "in use" more frequently, at least as a nickname.  It has only been the turn of this last century when Bella has made any significant impact as a given name in its own right, having rocketed up the charts in recent years. And, although it isn't the only factor, the impact of the Twilight series on the name Bella cannot be ignored.  From 1996 to 2002 in England and Wales Bella was at a steady rank of between #1015 and #703, averaging around 30 births per year. After 2003, Bella steadily increased in birth count each year: 64 in 2004, 108 in 2006, 184 in 2008. The first marked jump came in 2009 (after the release of the first Twilight movie) when it ranked #165 with 314 births. It almost doubled the following year when it  reached #104 (575 births) and finally cracked the Top 100 in 2011 at #69 (823 births) and was #58 with 1027 births in 2012. Added to this are many hyphenated Bella names (Bella-May, Bella-Louise, Bella-Marie etc) which are also on the rise. Bella-Rose ranked #529 with 80 births independently in 2012. In Scotland, Bella ranked #850 with 2 births in 2005, and had the same number the following year and in 2008. In 2009 it ranked #485 (6 births) and then jumped up to #180 (25 births) in 2010 and broke the Top 100 in 2012 at #87 (57 births).  In 2013, however, the name fell to #119 with 39 births.

Famous Bearers:

History: * Bella Woolf OBE (1877–1960), English author. Contemporary: * Bella Freud (b. 1961), fashion designer. * Bella Heathcote (b. 1988), Australian actress. * Bella Hardy (b. 1984), British folk singer.  Literature and Media: * Bella Wilfer, a principle character in Charles Dickens' novel Our Mutual Friend (1864). * Bella, a character on the popular children's television programme The Tweenies (2003-2008) * Isabella "Bella" Swan, a principle character in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series.  Other: * Bella, a town in Basilicata, Italy.

Variants:

Belle

Pronunciation:

BEL-ə [key]

Possible  Longer Forms:

Amabel, Annabella, Arabella, Beletili, Belisama, Belinda, Belisent, Belladonna, Bellamy, Bellatrix, Bellona, Christabel, Christabella, Dulcibella, Elizabeth, Gabriella, Isabella, Mirabel, Mirabella, Rosabel, Rosabella

Sibling Names:

Ava     Florence     Olivia     Esme     Willow     Sophia  Owen     George     Theo     Zack     Max     Harry

Name Lists:

Guys and Dolls   Names of Roses   Dickensian Names

 

If you like Bella you may also like:  Stella, Betsy, Amelie, Mia, Lola, Ruby, Aria, Violet, Lilia, Ayla

 

Thanks to Tania for requesting this post.