Belle

What Belle means

Means “beauty, beautiful”

From French belle (“beauty, beautiful”), from Latin bella.

Source: Wiktionary, “Belle” (revision 92528842), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Belle?

US: Steady: #1049 in 2015, #1013 now. England & Wales: Falling: down from #268 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1880, when 238 girls got the name (#90 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 6,507 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,412 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,627 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in UT (0.35 per 1,000 girls), MN (0.33 per 1,000 girls), PA (0.3 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Belle is #1013 in the US and #396 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Belle were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Bell8 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Belle

Girls

• Promise#823Editor’s note 330 US babies in 2025, but under 3 in England & Wales
• Sky#948From the word “sky”^*
• Rowan#249“little red one”^*
• Journey#411Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #411 vs #3,333 in 2025
• Willow#44From the word “willow”^*
• Mercy#862Editor’s note Up from #1,011 in 2015 to #862 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Rowan#59“little red one”^*
• Deacon#561Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1971, with 15 babies
• Alden#598“old + friend”^*
• Julien#709Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #709 vs #3,256 in 2025
• Avery#291Editor’s note Down from #188 in 2015 to #291 in 2025 in the US
• Joan#984“God is gracious”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under English, French, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Belle’s. Rank is US 2025.