Arabella (given name)

Last updated

Arabella is a female given name, possibly of Greek, Latin, or Celtic origin.

Contents

Origin and history

The earliest known use of the name in settlements was the modern-day northern Jordanian city of Irbid, known in ancient times as Arabella or Arbela (Άρβηλα in Ancient Greek). With regards to personal names, the first attested usage of the name was Arabella de Leuchars (c.1135–1203), a granddaughter of the Scottish king William the Lion. [1] The earliest English use was the granddaughter of Arabella de Leuchars, Arabella de Quincy (c.1186–1258), the daughter of Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester.

Typical for medieval bearers of the name, both these Arabellas are also documented as Orabel[la] and Orabilia, and in documents that Latinize names as Orabilis. [2] A Latin construction which suffixes orare with ābilis interprets the name's meaning as "given to prayer" or "entreatable". Orabilis has been suggested as the root of the name Arabella and its variants.

However, Orabilis may have been a purely speculative Latinized form, rather than Arabella's true root. Its usage, long being confined to Great Britain with no equivalent names in evident use elsewhere, would argue for a British origin, such as the Celtic òr a bheul "golden mouth", or the Scottish equivalent of Bel-óir, the Irish epithet for Saint Gregory the Great. [3]

Another theory suggests that the name Arabella, like the name Annabel, is a Scottish development of Amabel, whose ultimate root is the Latin amabilis (lovable), with the name passing to Great Britain via France. [4]

The first high-profile English bearer of the name was royal claimant Arabella Stuart (1575–1615), also referred to as Arbella, a great-granddaughter of Margaret Tudor. The name Arabella remained rare in England until the Restoration ushered in a fashion for ornate names.

Arabella Fermor (1696–1737) was a celebrated London beauty, whose highest profile evocation was as the heroine of Alexander Pope's 1712 poem The Rape of the Lock , under the name "Belinda". Pope introduced the 1717 edition of this poem with a dedication of "To Mrs Arabella Fermor". [5]

Arabella remained fairly popular in Georgian and Victorian Britain. It began to decline in use in the late 1800s, and reached a nadir in the 1940s, when there were only 15 recorded births with that name. The name has seen a steady resurgence since the 1990s, reaching #95 in England and Wales in 2015. [6] [7]

Despite the potential for being valued as a "heritage name", as it was the name of the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet (see Arbella), Arabella was not as popular in the United States. A rare high-profile American bearer of the name was Arabella Mansfield (née Babb) (1846–1911), the first female to pass a United States bar examination: Mansfield's birth name was Belle Aurelia Babb, but she began using Arabella as her first name in her first year of law school in 1862.

Arabella ranked in the Top 1000 most given names for American newborn girls in the 1880s, with a median ranking from that decade's respective yearly tallies being #969. Arabella then became progressively rarer in the United States, until a Top 1000 re-entry on the tally of the most given names for American newborn girls for the year 2006, which ranked it at #653: The name has continued to gain favor, ranking on the tally of the most given names for American newborn girls for the year 2014 at #174. [8]

People named Arabella

Fictional characters named Arabella

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Arbella Stuart</span> English noblewoman

Lady Arbella Stuart was an English noblewoman who was considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I of England. During the reign of King James VI and I, she married William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, another claimant to the English throne, in secret. King James imprisoned William Seymour and placed her under house arrest. When she and her husband tried to escape England, she was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London, where she died at age 39.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chloe</span> Name list

Chloe, also spelled Chloë, Chlöe, or Chloé, is a feminine name meaning "blooming" or "fertility" in Greek. The name ultimately derives, through Greek, from the Proto-Indo-European root *ǵʰelh₃-, which relates to the colors yellow and green. The common scientific prefix chloro- derives from the same Greek root. In Greek the word refers to the young, green foliage or shoots of plants in spring.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester</span> The entry isfor a Thurstan de Holand of the Hollands of Lancashire.

Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester was one of the leaders of the baronial rebellion against John, King of England, and a major figure in both the kingdoms of Scotland and England in the decades around the turn of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hilda</span> Name list

Hilda is one of several feminine given names derived from the name Hild, formed from Old Norse hildr, meaning 'battle'. Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was often called Hild's Game. Hilda of Whitby was an early Christian saint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel</span> Name list

Ethel is an Old English word meaning "noble", today often used as a feminine given name.

Esmé or Esmée is an English first name, from the past participle of the Old French verb esmer, "to esteem", thus signifying "esteemed". Another theory is that esmer is an alternative spelling of today's aimer, "to love", thus the name is aimé, meaning "beloved", equivalent to the modern feminine first name "Amy". Originally a masculine name, Esme had become a feminine name by the mid-twentieth century.

Fiona is a feminine given name of Gaelic origins. It means white or fair, while the Irish name Fíona means 'of wine', being the genitive of fíon 'wine'. It was coined by Scottish writer James Macpherson. Initially, the name was confined to Scotland but later it gained popularity in other countries, such as Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Australia, Germany and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela (name)</span> Name list

Pamela is a feminine given name, often abbreviated to Pam. Pamela is also infrequently used as a surname.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacqueline (given name)</span> Name list

Jacqueline is a given name, the French feminine form of Jacques, also commonly used in the English-speaking world. Older forms and variant spellings were sometimes given to men.

Arabella is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pippa (given name)</span> Name list

Pippa is a feminine given name and a short form, usually of Philippa. It came into greater use as an independent name in the Anglosphere following the publication of the 1841 verse drama Pippa Passes by English poet Robert Browning with the well-known lines "God's in his heaven— / All's right with the world!" The character was an innocent Italian girl, though the name is not in common use as a given name in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth (given name)</span> Name list

Ruth is a common female given name, noted from Ruth, the eponymous heroine of the eighth book of the Old Testament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madeleine (given name)</span> Name list

Madeleine, or Madeline has biblical origins. The name Magdalena is derived from the Aramaic term "Magdala" (מגדלא), meaning "tower" or "elevated, great." It refers to the town of Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, traditionally identified as the hometown of Mary Magdalene, a prominent figure in the New Testament who was a follower of Jesus. Therefore, Magdalena can be interpreted as "woman from Magdala."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Felicity (given name)</span> Name list

Felicity is a feminine given name of English origin meaning "happiness". It is derived from the Latin word felicitas meaning "luck, good fortune". It is also used as a form of the Latin name Felicitas, taken from the name of the Ancient Roman goddess Fortuna. It was also the name of Saint Felicity of Rome, a 2nd-century saint venerated by the Roman Catholic Church. The Latin Felicia, a related name, is a feminine form of the name Felix, which is derived from an Ancient Roman cognomen meaning "lucky," or "successful." Traditional English diminutives include Fee, Flick, Flicka, Fliss, Flissy, Flossie, Flossy, Liccy, Liss, Lissa, Lissie, and Lissy, among others.

Charlotte is a feminine given name, a female form of the male name Charles. It is of French or Italian origin, meaning "free man" or "petite". It dates back to at least the 14th century. Other variants of the name and related names include Charlie, Lottie, Lotte, Chara, Karlotta, Carlota, and Carlotta.

Brenda is a feminine given name in the English language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flora (given name)</span> Name list

Flora is a feminine given name of Latin origin meaning flower, ultimately derived from the Latin word flos, which had the genitive florus. Flora was a fertility goddess of flowers and springtime in Ancient Rome.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Imogen (given name)</span> Name list

Imogen, or Imogene, is a female given name of uncertain etymology.

Frances is an English given name or last name of Latin origin. In Latin the meaning of the name Frances is 'from France' or 'the French.' The male version of the name in English is Francis. The original Franciscus, meaning "Frenchman", comes from the Franks who were named for the francisca, the axe they used in battle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olive (given name)</span> Name list

Olive is a feminine given name of English origin meaning olive tree. The name is associated with peace because of the symbolism of the olive branch. An olive wreath has traditionally been worn by champions as a symbol of victory. It has also been seen as a symbol of fruitfulness.

References

  1. ↑ Hammond, Matthew (2013). New Perspectives on Medieval Scotland, 1093-1286. Woodbridge Suff: The Boydell Press. p. 43. ISBN   978-1-84383-853-1.
  2. ↑ "Orabilis de Quincy". geni_family_tree. 11 November 2023.
  3. ↑ Sims-Williams, Patrick (1990). Religion and Literature in Western England 600-800 . Cambs.: Cambridge University Press. pp.  186–7. ISBN   9780521673426.
  4. ↑ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006). A Dictionary of First Names. Oxford OXON: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780198610601.
  5. ↑ "Arabella Fermor (1696-1737)". David Nash Ford's Royal Berkshire History BerkshireHistory.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "Arabella". BritishBabyNames.com. Retrieved 23 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Baby names in England and Wales: 2015". Office for National Statistics. 2 September 2016.
  8. ↑ "Baby Names Popularity - NameVoyager: Baby Name Wizard Graph of Most Popular Baby Names". Baby Name Wizard. 10 October 2010.
WPanthroponymy.svg
This page or section lists people that share the same given name.
If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change that link to point directly to the intended article.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.