Isabelle
A traditionally feminine name of French origin meaning "God's promise" or "consecrated to God".
Name Census estimates that about 81,744 living Americans carry the first name Isabelle. It sits at #170 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Isabelle today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Isabelle births was 2007 (4,105 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Isabelle. 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 Isabelle with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
82K
~ 1 in 4,193 Americans
Peak year
2007
4,105 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2008 SSA rank
#170
Tracked since 1880
Census
Isabelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 74,127 people with the first name Isabelle, which placed it at #696 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
#696
National first-name rank
People counted
74K
74,127 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
24.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Isabelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Isabelle is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.3%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Isabelle 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 Isabelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.9% · 48,094
- Hispanic or Latino19.3% · 14,298
- Two or more races6.3% · 4,680
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.0% · 3,685
- Black or African American3.8% · 2,838
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 532
Gender
Gender distribution for Isabelle
Out of the 105,938 babies given the name Isabelle since 1880, 100.0% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Isabelle as a male name
- Ranked #13,296 in 2008
- 5 male births in 2008
- Peak: 2004 (9 births)
Isabelle as a female name
- Ranked #170 in 2024
- 1,778 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (4,105 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Isabelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 74,125 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Isabelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Isabelle from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 32,888 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Isabelle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Isabelle 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 Isabelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Isabelles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Isabelle, while Wyoming, Delaware, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,895 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Isabelle
The name Isabelle is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheba, meaning "God is my oath." It is the French and English form of the Spanish name Isabel, which was originally derived from the medieval Occitan name Isabela. The name gained popularity in France and England during the Middle Ages.
Isabelle first appeared in the 12th century as a variant of the name Elisabeth. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Isabelle was in reference to Queen Isabelle of Hainault, who lived from 1170 to 1190 and was the wife of King Philip II of France.
In the 13th century, the name Isabelle gained further prominence when it was borne by Saint Isabelle of France, who lived from 1225 to 1270. She was the sister of King Louis IX of France and founded the Franciscan monastery of Longchamp in Paris.
During the 14th century, the name Isabelle was associated with Queen Isabelle of France, who lived from 1292 to 1358 and was the wife of King Edward II of England. She played a significant role in the deposition of her husband and the accession of their son, Edward III, to the English throne.
In the 15th century, the name Isabelle was borne by Queen Isabelle I of Castile, who lived from 1451 to 1504. She was known as Queen Isabella the Catholic and was a key figure in the Spanish Inquisition and the financing of Christopher Columbus's expeditions to the Americas.
Another notable figure in history with the name Isabelle was the French novelist and playwright Isabelle de Charrière, who lived from 1740 to 1805. She was a prominent figure in the Enlightenment and was known for her works that explored themes of gender and social equality.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Isabelle
People
Isabelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Isabelle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Isabelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Isabelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 81,744 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Isabelle 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 4,193 US residents.
Is Isabelle a common name?
We classify Isabelle as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 105,938 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Isabelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Isabelle was 2007, when 4,105 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Isabelle is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Isabelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 74,127 people with the name Isabelle, or 24.54 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #696 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 Isabelle 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 Isabelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Isabelle appears almost entirely female. Of the 74,125 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Isabelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Isabelle is White at 64.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (19.3%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Isabelle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Isabelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.9% (48,094 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 Isabelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Isabelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Isabelle 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 Isabelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Isabelle 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 Isabelle 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 are called Isabelle?
Want to know how many people share the name Isabelle? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.