How popular is the baby name Isabel 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 Isabel.

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Popularity of the baby name Isabel


Posts that mention the name Isabel

Popular baby names in Mexico, 2021

Flag of Mexico
Flag of Mexico

Mexico, the 10th-most-populated country in the world, is located in the southern part of North America.

In 2021, Mexico welcomed 1,912,178 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Santiago.

Here are Mexico’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Sofia, 6,552 baby girls
  2. Maria Jose, 6,019
  3. Valentina, 5,671
  4. Regina, 5,556
  5. Camila, 5,255
  6. Valeria, 3,890
  7. Ximena, 3,794
  8. Maria Fernanda, 3,779
  9. Victoria, 3,622
  10. Renata, 3,495
  11. Romina, 3,447
  12. Isabella, 3,199
  13. Natalia, 3,036
  14. Daniela, 3,012
  15. Ana Sofia, 2,790
  16. Alexa, 2,528
  17. Fernanda, 2,515
  18. Maria Guadalupe, 2,468
  19. Samantha, 2,322
  20. Andrea, 2,275
  21. Aitana, 2,208
  22. Emily, 2,133
  23. Melissa, 2,107
  24. Guadalupe, 2,030
  25. Elizabeth, 2,002
  26. Mariana, 1,828
  27. Yamileth, 1,730 – a Latin American variant of the Arabic name Jamila
  28. Danna Sofia, 1,696
  29. Ana Victoria, 1,644
  30. Ana Paula, 1,620
  31. Alejandra, 1,581
  32. Fatima, 1,565
  33. Abigail, 1,560
  34. Julieta, 1,543
  35. Evelyn, 1,540
  36. Esmeralda, 1,407
  37. Luciana, 1,395
  38. Lucia, 1,299
  39. Estefania, 1,260
  40. Maria, 1,244
  41. Jimena, 1,227
  42. Vanessa, 1,215
  43. Ivanna, 1,201
  44. Dayana, 1,197
  45. Kimberly, 1,142
  46. Angela, 1,122
  47. Samara, 1,113
  48. Carolina, 1,102
  49. Emma, 1,098
  50. Miranda, 1,096

Boy Names

  1. Santiago, 9,963 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 8,209
  3. Sebastian, 6,381
  4. Leonardo, 5,784
  5. Matias, 4,708
  6. Emiliano, 4,541
  7. Daniel, 4,133
  8. Gael, 4,024
  9. Miguel Angel, 4,019
  10. Diego, 4,014
  11. Alexander, 3,644
  12. Alejandro, 3,640
  13. Jesus, 3,179
  14. Angel, 2,928
  15. David, 2,866
  16. Tadeo, 2,795 – the Spanish form of Thaddeus
  17. Fernando, 2,676
  18. Luis Angel, 2,632
  19. Rodrigo, 2,533
  20. Jose Angel, 2,442
  21. Maximiliano, 2,411
  22. Jose Luis, 2,374
  23. Gabriel, 2,365
  24. Eduardo, 2,357
  25. Emmanuel, 2,344
  26. Dylan, 2,325
  27. Rafael, 2,142
  28. Juan Pablo, 2,080
  29. Samuel, 2,066
  30. Juan Carlos, 2,052
  31. Jose Manuel, 2,046
  32. Nicolas, 1,989
  33. Isaac, 1,972
  34. Leonel, 1,966
  35. Elias, 1,940
  36. Damian, 1,899
  37. Liam, 1,880
  38. Axel, 1,850
  39. Emilio, 1,822
  40. Ricardo, 1,778
  41. Adrian, 1,770
  42. Jose Miguel, 1,739
  43. Jonathan, 1,710
  44. Carlos, 1,689
  45. Antonio, 1,680
  46. Francisco, 1,678
  47. Javier, 1,675
  48. Alexis, 1,672
  49. Alan, 1,657
  50. Miguel, 1,636

The girls’ top 100 included Dulce Maria (51st), Aylin (58th), Itzayana (67th), and Lucero (93rd).

The boys’ top 100 included Juan (56th), Abraham (66th), Erick (83rd), and Brayan (87th).

Compound first names tend to be shortened for everyday use (e.g, “Juan Carlos” into “Juanca”), but few of these shortened forms have evolved into popular legal names, which I find surprising. I didn’t spot any examples on the boys’ side of the rankings, and only a handful — such as Mayte/Maite, short for María Teresa, and Maribel, short for María Isabel — on the girls’ side.

Finally, here are Mexico’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare.

Sources: Natalidad – INEGI, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Mexico (public domain)

Popular baby names in Italy, 2021

Flag of Italy
Flag of Italy

The Southern European country of Italy — that boot-shaped peninsula that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea — shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.

Last year, Italy welcomed 400,249 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Leonardo.

Here are Italy’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2021:

Girl Names

  1. Sofia, 5,578 baby girls (2.86%)
  2. Aurora, 4,991
  3. Giulia, 4,616
  4. Ginevra, 3,803
  5. Beatrice, 3,647
  6. Alice, 3,392
  7. Vittoria, 3,202
  8. Emma, 2,876
  9. Ludovica, 2,813
  10. Matilde, 2,633
  11. Giorgia, 2,359
  12. Camilla, 2,343
  13. Chiara, 2,320
  14. Anna, 2,291
  15. Bianca, 2,201
  16. Nicole, 2,169
  17. Gaia, 2,088
  18. Martina, 2,069
  19. Greta, 2,052
  20. Azzurra, 1,673
  21. Sara, 1,651
  22. Arianna, 1,647
  23. Noemi, 1,639
  24. Rebecca, 1,533
  25. Mia, 1,494
  26. Isabel, 1,422
  27. Adele, 1,349
  28. Chloe, 1,317
  29. Elena, 1,298
  30. Francesca, 1,260
  31. Gioia, 1,202
  32. Ambra, 1,171
  33. Viola, 1,152
  34. Carlotta, 1,149
  35. Cecilia, 1,144
  36. Diana, 1,117
  37. Alessia, 1,101
  38. Elisa, 1,086
  39. Emily, 1,070
  40. Marta, 1,066
  41. Maria, 989
  42. Margherita, 988
  43. Anita, 978
  44. Giada, 972
  45. Eleonora, 926
  46. Nina, 856
  47. Miriam, 842
  48. Asia, 823
  49. Amelia, 805
  50. Diletta, 804 – means “beloved” in Italian.

Boy Names

  1. Leonardo, 8,448 baby boys (4.12%)
  2. Alessandro, 4,975
  3. Tommaso, 4,973
  4. Francesco, 4,924
  5. Lorenzo, 4,642
  6. Edoardo, 4,369
  7. Mattia, 4,215
  8. Riccardo, 3,992
  9. Gabriele, 3,944
  10. Andrea, 3,860
  11. Diego, 2,946
  12. Matteo, 2,867
  13. Nicolò, 2,847
  14. Giuseppe, 2,740
  15. Antonio, 2,598
  16. Federico, 2,546
  17. Pietro, 2,247
  18. Samuele, 2,225
  19. Giovanni, 2,211
  20. Filippo, 2,113
  21. Enea, 1,963 – form of Aeneas.
    • According to Greek mythology, the Trojan hero Aeneas was an ancestor of twins Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of Rome. One ancient source associates Aeneas’ name with the Greek adjective ainos, meaning “unspeakable, causing nervousness, fear, terror.”
  22. Davide, 1,925
  23. Christian, 1,738
  24. Gioele, 1,722
  25. Giulio, 1,713
  26. Michele, 1,685
  27. Marco, 1,541
  28. Gabriel, 1,439
  29. Elia, 1,403
  30. Luca, 1,400
  31. Salvatore, 1,374
  32. Vincenzo, 1,333
  33. Emanuele, 1,326
  34. Thomas, 1,322
  35. Alessio, 1,251
  36. Giacomo, 1,197
  37. Nathan, 1,192
  38. Liam, 1,174
  39. Simone, 1,166
  40. Samuel, 1,133
  41. Jacopo, 1,129
  42. Noah, 1,097
  43. Daniele, 1,050
  44. Giorgio, 1,025
  45. Ettore, 1,002 – form of Hector.
  46. Luigi, 996
  47. Daniel, 946
  48. Manuel, 936
  49. Nicola, 859
  50. Damiano, 830

Leonardo is still the clear favorite for baby boys, while Azzurra — no doubt inspired by Italy’s national soccer team gli Azzurri, “the Blues” — continues its rise among baby girls:

Graph of the popularity of the baby name Azzurra in Italy from 1999 to 2021.
Popularity of Azzurra in Italy, 1999-2021

Here are Italy’s 2020 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: How many babies are named…? – Istat, Istat Statistics, Behind the Name, Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite (transl. by Gregory Nagy)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Italy (public domain). Graph from Istat.

What popularized the baby name Tristan in the 1990s?

The character Tristran Ludlow (played by actor Brad Pitt) in the movie "Legends of the Fall" (1994).
Tristan Ludlow from “Legends of the Fall

The baby name Tristan saw an impressive jump in usage in the mid-1990s:

  • 1997: 4,196 baby boys named Tristan [rank: 92nd]
  • 1996: 5,458 baby boys named Tristan [rank: 68th]
  • 1995: 3,088 baby boys named Tristan [rank: 121st]
  • 1994: 492 baby boys named Tristan [rank: 452nd]
  • 1993: 567 baby boys named Tristan [rank: 409th]

The name’s rise in 1995 was the second-largest of the year (after Austin), and it reached the U.S. top 100 for the first time ever in 1996.

Here’s a visual:

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

Many variant forms of the name saw higher usage during those years as well…

1994199519961997
Tristen736181,1881,078
Triston48372726666
Tristin34288630549
Tristian36157304287
Trystan1899182178
Treston31585860
Tryston.426975
Tristyn.286048
Trysten28†4862
Trystin6133742
Tristain.112521
Trestan.1176
Trestin511610
Trystyn.7*125
Tresten..810
Tristion..5*6
Tristine..5†.
Thristan..5*.
*Debut, †Gender-specific debut

Tristen, Triston, Tristin and Tristian all entered top 1,000 in 1995, and Trystan followed a year later.

The name that saw the largest relative increase in usage in 1995 was Tristin. In second place? Tristen.

(…And this doesn’t even account for all the Tristan-related girl names that got a mid-’90s boost.)

So, what was the influence?

The character Tristan Ludlow (played by Brad Pitt) from the movie Legends of the Fall — a saga set in rural Montana during the early decades of the 1900s.

Tristan was the rebellious middle son of rancher Col. William Ludlow (Anthony Hopkins). He and his brothers — the older, ambitious Alfred (Aidan Quinn), and the younger, naïve Samuel (Henry Thomas) — all fell in love with the same beautiful woman, Susannah (Julia Ormond).

Released at the very end of 1994, the “big, robust Western love story” ranked #1 at the box office for four weeks straight in the early months of 1995.

Regarding Tristan Ludlow’s first name, one incredibly prescient reviewer noted that we should “look for [it] to be given to more than a few babies over the next few years.”

Tristan Ludlow didn’t end up with Susannah, but he did get married — to a Native American woman named Isabel (Karina Lombard). The name Karina saw it’s highest-ever usage in 1995, and the usage of Isabel also increased — though it was already on the rise, so there’s no telling how much of the increase was due specifically to the film.

Speaking of Isabel’s rise…

The fact that Legends of the Fall featured both a character named Isabel and an actor named Aidan, and that forms of these names (Isabella and Aiden) went on to reach the U.S. top 10 — peaking almost simultaneously a decade and a half later — is very interesting to me. It makes me wonder whether the movie’s impact on U.S. baby names wasn’t substantially greater (but also more complex?) than what the mid-’90s data would have us believe.

Isabella ranking, U.S.Aiden ranking, U.S.
20123rd10th
20112nd9th*
20101st*9th*
20091st*12th
20082nd16th
*Peak usage

(I began wondering about this after a friend of mine, who has a son named Aiden, mentioned that she’d had the name in the back of her mind ever since seeing Legends of the Fall as a teenager.)

What are your thoughts on this theory?

And, do you know anyone with a name that was inspired by Legends of the Fall?

Sources:

Top first letters of baby names in the U.S., 2021

Which first letters were the most and least popular for U.S. baby names in 2021?

Top first letters for girl names: A, E, M

For baby girls, the most-used first letter was A, followed by E and M. The least-used first letter was U.

Graph of first letter popularity for U.S. baby girl names, 2021

The most popular girl names per letter were…

  • A-names (over 273,100 baby girls): Amelia, Ava, Abigail, Avery, Aria, Aurora
  • B-names (over 49,300): Brooklyn, Bella, Brielle, Blakely, Bailey, Brianna
  • C-names (over 93,100): Charlotte, Camila, Chloe, Claire, Caroline, Cora
  • D-names (over 40,300): Delilah, Daisy, Diana, Daniela, Delaney, Dakota
  • E-names (over 155,300): Emma, Evelyn, Elizabeth, Eleanor, Ella, Emily
  • F-names (over 16,500): Freya, Faith, Finley, Fiona, Fatima, Frances
  • G-names (over 42,900): Gianna, Grace, Genesis, Gabriella, Genevieve, Georgia
  • H-names (over 54,900): Harper, Hazel, Hannah, Hailey, Hadley, Harmony
  • I-names (over 44,100): Isabella, Isla, Ivy, Iris, Isabelle, Isabel
  • J-names (over 73,500): Josephine, Jade, Julia, Josie, Juniper, Jasmine
  • K-names (over 89,100): Kinsley, Kennedy, Kaylee, Kehlani, Katherine, Kylie
  • L-names (over 115,300): Luna, Layla, Lily, Leah, Lucy, Lillian
  • M-names (over 143,500): Mia, Mila, Madison, Maya, Madelyn, Madeline
  • N-names (over 58,800): Nora, Nova, Naomi, Natalie, Natalia, Nevaeh
  • O-names (over 30,200): Olivia, Olive, Oakley, Oaklynn, Octavia, Ophelia
  • P-names (over 37,600): Penelope, Paisley, Piper, Peyton, Parker, Presley
  • Q-names (over 4,100): Quinn, Quincy, Queen, Quinley, Quetzalli, Quinnley
  • R-names (over 74,800): Riley, Ruby, Rylee, Raelynn, Rose, Remi
  • S-names (over 116,400): Sophia, Sofia, Scarlett, Stella, Savannah, Skylar
  • T-names (over 24,200): Taylor, Teagan, Trinity, Tatum, Tessa, Talia
  • U-names (over 600): Unique, Uma, Ulani, Una, Unknown, Unity
  • V-names (over 32,400): Violet, Victoria, Valentina, Vivian, Valerie, Valeria
  • W-names (over 14,700): Willow, Wren, Winter, Wynter, Willa, Wrenley
  • X-names (over 4,500): Ximena, Xiomara, Xyla, Xena, Xochitl, Xitlali
  • Y-names (over 7,600): Yaretzi, Yara, Yareli, Yasmin, Yamileth, Yuna
  • Z-names (over 29,100): Zoey, Zoe, Zuri, Zara, Zariah, Zelda

Top first letters for boy names: J, A, L

For baby boys, the most-used first letter was J, followed by A and L. The least-used first letter was U.

Graph of first letter popularity for U.S. baby boy names, 2021

The most popular boy names per letter were…

  • A-names (over 178,600 baby boys): Alexander, Asher, Aiden, Anthony, Andrew, Adrian
  • B-names (over 86,600): Benjamin, Brooks, Bennett, Beau, Bryson, Brayden
  • C-names (over 123,000): Carter, Charles, Caleb, Christopher, Cameron, Cooper
  • D-names (over 85,000): Daniel, David, Dylan, Dominic, Declan, Damian
  • E-names (over 108,700): Elijah, Ethan, Ezra, Elias, Ezekiel, Eli
  • F-names (over 20,500): Finn, Felix, Finley, Francisco, Fernando, Finnegan
  • G-names (over 53,500): Grayson, Gabriel, Greyson, Gael, Giovanni, George
  • H-names (over 50,000): Henry, Hudson, Hunter, Harrison, Hayden, Hayes
  • I-names (over 31,500): Isaac, Isaiah, Ian, Ivan, Israel, Ismael
  • J-names (over 202,800): James, Jack, Jackson, Jacob, John, Joseph
  • K-names (over 93,400): Kai, Kayden, Kingston, Kaiden, Kevin, King
  • L-names (over 133,400): Liam, Lucas, Levi, Logan, Leo, Luke
  • M-names (over 126,700): Mateo, Michael, Mason, Matthew, Maverick, Miles
  • N-names (over 57,400): Noah, Nathan, Nolan, Nicholas, Nathaniel, Nicolas
  • O-names (over 38,800): Oliver, Owen, Oscar, Omar, Orion, Odin
  • P-names (over 23,700): Parker, Patrick, Peter, Preston, Phoenix, Paxton
  • Q-names (over 3,100): Quinn, Quentin, Quincy, Quinton, Quintin, Quinten
  • R-names (over 82,800): Ryan, Roman, Robert, Rowan, River, Ryder
  • S-names (over 70,300): Sebastian, Samuel, Santiago, Silas, Sawyer, Steven
  • T-names (over 59,200): Theodore, Thomas, Thiago, Theo, Tyler, Tucker
  • U-names (over 2,500): Uriel, Uriah, Ulises, Ulysses, Uziel, Umar
  • V-names (over 11,000): Vincent, Victor, Valentino, Vincenzo, Vicente, Vihaan
  • W-names (over 49,100): William, Wyatt, Waylon, Wesley, Weston, Walker
  • X-names (over 7,200): Xavier, Xander, Xzavier, Xavion, Xavien, Xavian
  • Y-names (over 8,200): Yusuf, Yosef, Yehuda, Yousef, Yahir, Yisroel
  • Z-names (over 26,900): Zion, Zachary, Zayden, Zane, Zayn, Zander