Entry № 0228 · Latin, Italian origin

Arabella Arabella — Meaning, Origin & Baby Name Popularity

/ ar-ah-BELL-ah /
Gender
Girl
Origin
Latin, Italian
Meaning
"Yielding to prayer / beautiful altar (Arabella Churchill + Strauss opera)"
Syllables
4
Rank · US 2025
№ 110
First recorded
Medieval (Latin)

A name that means "yielding to prayer / beautiful altar (arabella churchill + strauss opera)".

Arabella is from the Latin *orabilis* ("yielding to prayer, entreatable") — also interpreted as the Italian *ara bella* ("beautiful altar"). First used as a feminine given name in 12th-century Scotland and England. **A top-200 US baby name since 2010**. **Arabella Churchill (1648-1730)** — **mistress of King James II of England and ancestor of the Duke of Berwick line; great-great-grandmother of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough — making her an ancestor of Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales**. **Arabella Churchill (1949-2007)** — co-founder of the Glastonbury Festival (1971), the largest greenfield music and performing-arts festival in the world; granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill. **Richard Strauss's *Arabella* (1933)** — German romantic comic opera with libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal; among Strauss's most-performed late operas. **Arabella Kushner (born 2011)** — eldest daughter of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner; granddaughter of Donald Trump. **Arabella Weir** — Scottish actress and comedian. **Arabella in Daphne du Maurier's *My Cousin Rachel* (1951)**. **Arctic Monkeys' "Arabella" (2013)** — track from their *AM* album, certified Platinum in the UK. **Henry Fielding's *The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling* (1749)** features Mrs. Western's niece Arabella Hunt.

Featured throughout English aristocratic naming traditions.

Yielding to prayer. Arabella Churchill co-founded Glastonbury Festival in 1971.

The name in its native script.

Arabella
Transliteration
Arabella
Pronunciation
/ ˌær.əˈbɛl.ə /
Root
Grammatical form

Where Arabella stands.

Current rank · 2025
№ 110 in the U.S.
All-time peak
№ 110 in 2023
Babies named Arabella · last year
2,440 in the U.S.
First entered SSA top-1000
2005
Rank, 1995–2025 Lower = more popular
№25 №75 №150 №250 1995 2005 2015 2020 2025 PEAK · #110 NOW · #110

Arabellas before her.

Real people
Arabella Churchill (Glastonbury)
Glastonbury co-founder.
1949 – 2007
Arabella Churchill (Stuart-era)
Mistress of James II.
1648 – 1730
Arabella Weir
Scottish comedian.
born 1957
In fiction
Arabella
Strauss's Arabella.
1933

Names connected to Arabella.

The number behind Arabella.

6

The Nurturer

Arabella reduces to six — the number of Glastonbury.

Why families chose this name.

"Churchill's prayer. Eight letters. Arabella."
Catherine · Mother of one · Edinburgh