Belle
A feminine name of French origin meaning "beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 6,465 living Americans carry the first name Belle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Belle today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Belle births was 1915 (407 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Belle. 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 Belle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.5K
~ 1 in 53,017 Americans
Peak year
1915
407 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,005
Tracked since 1880
Census
Belle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,259 people with the first name Belle, which placed it at #3,377 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
#3,377
National first-name rank
People counted
6.3K
6,259 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Belle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Belle is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.3%). 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 Belle 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 Belle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.5% · 4,037
- Hispanic or Latino12.9% · 805
- Asian and Pacific Islander10.3% · 642
- Black or African American6.2% · 386
- Two or more races5.2% · 326
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 63
Popularity
Belle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Belle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 2,901 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Belle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Belle 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 Belle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Belles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. New York, California, Texas recorded the most babies named Belle, while Montana, Maine, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 184 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Belle
The name Belle originates from the French language and is a feminine form of the French word "beau" or "bel", meaning beautiful or handsome. This name first gained prominence in the 12th century during the Middle Ages in France.
Belle was initially used as a descriptive term rather than a given name, often appearing in medieval French literature and poetry to describe a beautiful or admirable woman. Over time, it transitioned into a commonly used first name, particularly among the French nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Belle can be found in the 13th-century French medieval romance "Le Bel Inconnu" (The Fair Unknown), where the female protagonist is referred to as Belle. This literary work is believed to have contributed significantly to the popularization of the name.
In the 14th century, Belle emerged as a standalone given name, gracing notable figures such as Belle de Bourbon (1339-1390), a member of the French royal family. During the Renaissance period, the name gained further traction, particularly among the aristocracy and artistic circles.
Belle has been associated with several famous individuals throughout history, including:
1. Belle da Costa Greene (1879-1950), an American librarian and bibliographer who played a crucial role in developing the Pierpont Morgan Library's collection.
2. Belle Starr (1848-1889), an American outlaw and horse thief who gained notoriety in the American Old West.
3. Belle Boyd (1844-1900), a Confederate spy during the American Civil War, renowned for her intelligence and daring exploits.
4. Belle Aurore (1938-2021), a French singer and actress known for her contributions to the yé-yé pop music genre.
5. Belle Bilton (1867-1949), an English actress and singer who performed in various stage productions and pantomimes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
While the name Belle has retained its French roots, it has also gained popularity in various other cultures and languages, particularly in English-speaking countries, where it is often associated with beauty, grace, and charm.
People
Belle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Belle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Belle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Belle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,465 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Belle 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 53,017 US residents.
Is Belle a common name?
We classify Belle as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,976 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Belle most popular?
The single biggest year for Belle was 1915, when 407 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Belle is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Belle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,259 people with the name Belle, or 2.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,377 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 Belle 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 Belle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Belle appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,261 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Belle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Belle is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (10.3%). 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 Belle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Belle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.5% (4,037 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 Belle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Belle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Belle 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 Belle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Belle 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 Belle 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 Belle?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.