Mabel

What Mabel means

Means “lovable”

Clipping of Amabel, from Latin amābilis (“lovable”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Mabel” (revision 93937043), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Mabel?

US: Rising: up from #578 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #216 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1891, when 2,029 girls got the name (#15 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,056 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 166 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 256 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 ME (5.14 per 1,000 girls), VT (5.13 per 1,000 girls), AK (4.84 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Mabel is #201 in the US and #16 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 Mabel 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

• Mabli0 US · 69 E&W
• Maybel30 US · 6 E&W
• Maebel13 US · 13 E&W
• Mabelle12 US · 3 E&W

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 Mabel

Girls

• Aurelia#290“golden”^*
• Nova#46“new”^*
• Leona#429Feminine form of Leo, meaning “lion”^*
• Rosalie#171“rose”^*
• Cecilia#108possibly “blind”^*
• Aurora#15Italian, from Latin Aurōra, meaning “dawn, sunrise”^*

For a brother

• Felix#175“happy, lucky”^*
• August#81“month of August”^*
• Augustine#545Same root as Austin, meaning “majestic”^*
• Leo#19“lion”^*
• Theodore#4Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #99 in 2015, #4 in 2025
• Augustus#407“majestic, venerable”^*

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