Isabelle
Meaning of Isabelle
Isabelle, a feminine given name, represents the French elaboration of Isabel, itself a medieval vernacular form of Elizabeth that descends through Latin Elisabetha from the Hebrew phrase “ʾElīshebaʿ,” conventionally glossed as “God is my oath.” Phonetically, contemporary usage most commonly renders the name in English as iz-ə-BEL /ˈɪzəbɛl/, with cognate articulations in French (ee-zah-BEL, /i.zabɛl/) and in Spanish (ee-sah-BEY-yeh, /iˈsa βeˈʝe/), the latter preserving the palatal “ll” characteristic of Iberian Romance. Historically, Isabelle carried aristocratic and devotional connotations, having been borne by medieval queens of France and Navarre and by several canonized figures, a pedigree that continues to situate the name within an aura of courtly refinement and liturgical solemnity. In the United States, federal vital-statistics data reveal a long trajectory of moderate favor—rarely absent from the national top-1000 since 1880—followed by a marked surge in the early twenty-first century, when the designation advanced from rank 346 in 1996 to a high of 79 in 2007 before gradually settling into the lower half of the top-200, where it remains as of the 2024 reporting year. This persistence, coupled with its multilingual accessibility and time-honored semantic link to covenantal fidelity, renders Isabelle a choice that balances cosmopolitan sophistication with historical depth.
Pronunciation
Spanish
- Pronunced as ee-sah-BEY-yeh (iˈsa βeˈʝe)
French
- Pronunced as ee-zah-BEL (i.zabɛl)
British English
- Pronunced as iz-uh-BEL (/ˈɪzəbəl̩/)
American English
- Pronunced as iz-uh-BEL (/ˈɪzəbɛl̩/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Isabelle
| Isabelle Huppert is a French actress famed for icy, morally ambiguous roles, a record César nominee, and ranked second on the New York Times 2020 list of the greatest actors of the 21st century. |
| Isabelle Yasmine Adjani is a French actress and singer, a five time Cesar Award winner and two time Oscar nominee, honored with the Legion of Honor and the Order of Arts and Letters. |
| Isabelle Fuhrman is an American actress best known for Orphan and Orphan First Kill, as well as roles in The Hunger Games, The Novice, and Horizon An American Saga. |
| Born in the Ivory Coast, Isabelle Boni-Claverie is an author, screenwriter, and film director who grew up in Paris after early years in Switzerland and France. |
| Isabelle Dinoire, a French woman, became the first person to receive a partial face transplant in 2005 after a dog attack and died in 2016 at age 49. |
| Isabelle Autissier is a French sailor, the first woman to complete a solo circumnavigation in competition, a writer and broadcaster based in La Rochelle, and honorary president of WWF France. |
| Isabelle Valdez Santana, known as Isabelle, is a Dominican Christian singer who holds the record for Soberano Awards nominations and won the 2021 Soberano for Christian music. |
| Isabelle Kocher is a French businesswoman who served as CEO of Engie until February 2020. |
| Isabelle Faust is an acclaimed German violinist who performs worldwide as a soloist and chamber musician and has received multiple awards. |
| Isabelle Clark Percy West was an American artist and educator known for Pacific Coast landscapes and botanical etchings, and a founding faculty member of California College of the Arts in Oakland. |
| Isabelle Hudon is a Canadian business leader and diplomat who led the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, headed Marketel and Sun Life Financial in Quebec, and from 2017 to 2021 was the first female Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco. |
| Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou became the tenth dean of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in October 2020. |
| Isabelle Caro Rosenbohm was a French model and actress from Marseille best known for her appearance in the controversial No Anorexia ad campaign photographed by Oliviero Toscani. |
| Isabelle Racicot is a Canadian TV and radio host. |
| Isabelle Carré - Isabelle Carre is a French actress who has appeared in over 70 films since 1989 and won the 2001 Cesar Award for Best Actress for Se souvenir des belles choses, with six further nominations. |
