How popular is the baby name Annabel in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Annabel.

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Popularity of the baby name Annabel


Posts that mention the name Annabel

Where did the baby name Tessibel come from in 1917?

The character Tessibel Skinner from the movie "The Secret of the Storm Country" (1917).
Tessibel from “The Secret of the Storm Country“

The name Tessibel has appeared only once in the U.S. baby name data, way back in 1917:

  • 1919: unlisted
  • 1918: unlisted
  • 1917: 7 baby girls named Tessibel [debut]
  • 1916: unlisted
  • 1915: unlisted

For a better picture of what usage looked like around this time, though, let’s check out data from the Social Security Death Index:

  • 1919: 2 people named Tessibell, 1 person named Tesibel
  • 1918: 1 person named Tessibel, 1 person named Tessibell
  • 1917: 4 people named Tessibel, 1 person named Tessibell, 1 person named Tessibelle
  • 1916: 3 people named Tessibel
  • 1900-1915: no one with any of these names

So where did the name Tessibel come from in the mid-1910s, and why were there a few extra Tessibels in 1917?

The inspiration was fictional character Tessibel Skinner, invented by author Grace Miller White and first introduced in the 1909 book Tess of the Storm Country. A second book featuring Tess, The Secret of the Storm Country, came out in 1917.

The first book was made into four different films (in 1914, 1922, 1932, and 1960) and the second was made into a single film the same year it was published.

My guess is that the name got a nudge in 1917 thanks to the release of the new story, which was also serialized in the now-defunct magazine Woman’s World. The marketing for the movie — which featured popular actress Norma Talmadge (who went on to star in The Heart of Wetona and Smilin’ Through) — could have been a factor as well.

Do you like the name Tessibel? Do you think it’s a good alternative to names like Isabel and Annabel?

Five-name Friday: Girl name for Will’s sister

It’s an unseasonably warm day, so you decide to take a walk around the neighborhood. At one point you encounter a nice lady with a little boy in a stroller. As the two of you chat, the lady mentions that she and her husband are now expecting a baby girl, but they aren’t sure what to name her. Here’s the gist of the situation:

We are naming baby number 2, our son’s name is William “Will” Michael. I like Annabel, Linley & Ava but he likes McKenna, Keira & Campbell.

“Do you have any suggestions?”

You’re a name-lover, and you could potentially give her dozens of suggestions on the spot. But her young son is starting to get cranky, so you decide to stick to five baby name suggestions so the lady can get on with her day.

But here’s the fun part: Instead of blurting out the first five names you come up with, you get to press a magical “pause” button, think for a bit, and then “unpause” the scenario to offer him the best five names you can think of.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you brainstorm:

  • Be independent. Decide on your five names before looking at anyone else’s five names.
  • Be sincere. Would you honestly suggest these particular baby names out loud to a stranger in public?
  • Five names only! All names beyond the first five in your comment will be either deleted or replaced with nonsense words.

Finally, here’s the request again:

We are naming baby number 2, our son’s name is William “Will” Michael. I like Annabel, Linley & Ava but he likes McKenna, Keira & Campbell.

Which five baby names are you going to suggest?

How did Myrna Loy get her name?

American actress Myrna Loy (1905-1993)
Myrna Loy

Popular film actress Myrna Loy made the baby name Myrna trendy during the 1930s:

  • 1939: 1,600 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 144th]
  • 1938: 1,801 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 134th] – peak usage
  • 1937: 1,652 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 137th]
  • 1936: 1,396 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 149th]
  • 1935: 1,059 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 176th]
  • 1934: 836 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 211th]
  • 1933: 571 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 254th]
  • 1932: 422 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 307th]
  • 1931: 415 baby girls named Myrna [rank: 315th]

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Myrna in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Myrna

So, how did the actress — who was born Myrna Adele Williams in Montana in 1905 — come to be named “Myrna”?

Here’s how her father discovered the name:

One of my father’s duties was taking the cattle to market in Chicago, traveling in stock cars, sleeping in the caboose. I was on the way in 1905 when he happened to stop near Broken Bow, Nebraska, on the Burlington Railroad. It wasn’t a proper station, really, just a whistle-stop where you got water or fuel for the coal-burning engines. Sometimes they had classical names left by itinerant scholars, and this one was called “Myrna.” The expectant father decided then and there, if the child was a girl, that would be her name.

He had to fight for it, though:

When I was born, on August 2nd, there were great battles between him and my mother and grandmother. The ladies wanted Annabel, a composite of my grandmothers’ names, but for once my father held out against the strong women of the family. He gained considerable leverage from the appearance of my mother on the cover of Field and Stream. During his absence, while nearly seven months pregnant with me, she had become the first woman to pack through the highest point of the Tetons in the Southern Rockies. My father supposedly blew his stack when he saw it.

So they named me Myrna Adele Williams, because my father liked the sound of it. The Welsh in him probably thought Myrna was a pretty name. All Welshmen are like that, you know, they have a certain amount of poetry in them.

(Myrna’s mom sounds awesome, doesn’t she? I did my best to find that Field and Stream cover online, but no luck.)

So where does the name Myrna come from? Like Murna and Morna, it’s an Anglicized form of the Irish name Muirne (pronounced MUR-nah). Looks like you can define Muirne two different ways:

  • The mother of legendary Irish warrior Fionn mac Cumhail (Finn McCool) was named Muirenn/Muireann, but is often called Muirne or Murna in English. Most sources agree that Muirenn/Muireann comes from the Gaelic words muir, meaning “sea,” and fionn, meaning “white, fair.”
  • Muirne also coincides with the (perhaps archaic?) Gaelic word mùirn/mùirne. Old dictionaries define the word various ways: “cheerfulness, joy”; “delicateness, tenderness”; “natural affection, love, regard”; “respect.”

Do you like the name Myrna?

Source: Kotsilibas-Davis, James, and Myrna Loy. Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming. New York: Knopf, 1987.

How did Princess Beatrice get her name?

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie in June, 2013
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie

While they were married, Prince Andrew and Sarah “Fergie” Ferguson had two daughters. The first was named Beatrice (b. 1988). The second was named Eugenie (b. 1990).

Beatrice would have been Annabel if her grandmother hadn’t objected. “Her parents’ desire to name her Annabel was vetoed by Queen Elizabeth, aware that this was also the name of a night club favored by the Fergie Set.”

Annabel’s is a members-only restaurant/nightclub in London. A recent review at View London notes that “[i]t’s not as Sloaney as it used to be.”

And Eugenie’s name? You’re not pronouncing it correctly. It’s YOO-genny, said the princess in an interview several years ago. She explained, “Whenever we used to meet foreign people who were struggling with it, my mum and I would help them by saying, ‘It’s like Use Your Knees.’ But whatever. I am now used to every pronunciation.”

Probably doesn’t help that, right after Eugenie was born, Buckingham Palace “requested the name be pronounced “U-jay-nay,” with a French inflection.”

Which name do you prefer, Beatrice or Eugenie?

Sources:

  • Farrell, Mary H.J., Jonathan Cooper, Terry Smith, Rosemary Thorpe-Tracey. “Bringing Baby Home.” People 16 Apr. 1990: 55-57.
  • “Fergie is returning home to baby-oh, dear! Now what will press say?” Chicago Tribune 26 Oct. 1988: 6.
  • Greig, Geordie. “Princess Eugenie: Little Princess Sunshine.” Telegraph 4 Mar. 2008.

Image: Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie by Carfax2 under CC BY-SA 3.0.