Anabelle
A feminine given name meaning "favored grace" or "blossoming grace".
Name Census estimates that about 8,638 living Americans carry the first name Anabelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Anabelle today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anabelle births was 2014 (686 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anabelle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Anabelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Anabelle is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.6K
~ 1 in 39,680 Americans
Peak year
2014
686 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,766
Tracked since 1915
Census
Anabelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,430 people with the first name Anabelle, which placed it at #2,766 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,766
National first-name rank
People counted
8.4K
8,430 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anabelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anabelle is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Anabelle described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Anabelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.1% · 3,803
- Hispanic or Latino39.9% · 3,365
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.8% · 657
- Two or more races4.4% · 374
- Black or African American2.4% · 200
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 31
Popularity
Anabelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Anabelle from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,607 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Anabelle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Anabelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Anabelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Anabelle, while Montana, Delaware, Rhode Island recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 179 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Anabelle
The name Anabelle is derived from the Hebrew name Anna, meaning "grace" or "favor." It is a variation of the French name Annabelle, which combines the elements "Anna" and the French word "belle," meaning "beautiful."
The earliest recorded use of the name Anabelle dates back to the 12th century. It was particularly popular in France and England during the Middle Ages. The spelling "Anabelle" emerged in the 16th century as an alternative to the more common "Annabelle."
One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Anabelle de Guînes, a French noblewoman who lived in the 13th century. She was the daughter of Arnold III, Count of Guînes, and played a significant role in the political affairs of her time.
In literature, the name Anabelle appeared in the 19th-century novel "The Bride of Lammermoor" by Sir Walter Scott. The character Anabelle Grahame was a young woman whose tragic love story was central to the plot.
Another notable figure named Anabelle was Anabelle Moore, an American opera singer from the late 19th century. She was renowned for her performances in operas by composers such as Verdi and Puccini.
In the 20th century, Anabelle Acosta was a Cuban ballerina and choreographer who made significant contributions to the development of modern dance. She was born in 1907 and worked with several prominent dance companies throughout her career.
Anabelle Rowena Ferguson, born in 1919, was a British author and illustrator of children's books. Her most famous works include the "Tiptoe" series, which followed the adventures of a young girl named Tiptoe.
Throughout history, the name Anabelle has been associated with grace, beauty, and artistic expression. While its popularity has fluctuated over time, it remains a timeless and elegant choice for parents seeking a name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Anabelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anabelle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Anabelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anabelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,638 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anabelle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 39,680 US residents.
Is Anabelle a common name?
We classify Anabelle as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,863 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anabelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Anabelle was 2014, when 686 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anabelle is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anabelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,430 people with the name Anabelle, or 2.79 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,766 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Anabelle in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Anabelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anabelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,420 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Anabelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anabelle is White at 45.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (39.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Anabelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anabelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.1% (3,803 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Anabelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anabelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anabelle in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Anabelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anabelle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Anabelle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Anabelle?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.