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 [ 4 syll. an-na-bel-la, ann-abe-lla ] The girl name Annabella is pronounced as AENahBEHLah KEY. Annabella is used chiefly in English, German, and Italian, and its origin is Italian. Annabella is of the meaning gracefully beautiful. The name is a combination of Anna and Bella, or it could be a form of Amabel influenced by the name Anna. The name was first used in 12th-century Scotland, where it was often used as an Anglicized version of the Gaelic Barabal. Annabella was the name of the mother of King James I of Scotland. It was also made known as the name of the incestuous key female character in John Ford's play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore (1629-1633). Another form was later publicized by Edgar Allen Poe's poem, Anabel Lee (1849), which was written in tribute to his wife. Among English speakers, the name Annabella has been used generally from the 19th century. Annabella has 17 variants that are used in both English and other languages. English variants of Annabella include Anabel (also used in Spanish), Anabela (also used in Portuguese), Anabella (also used in Spanish), Anabelle, Ani (also used in Tamil and Hawaiian), Anna-Belle, AnnaBelle, Annabel, Annabelle (also used in French), Annaple, Anni (also used in Finnish and German), Bella (also used in German, Italian, Scottish, Spanish, Hungarian, and Russian), and Belle (also used in French and Spanish). Anbel (Spanish), Anibal (Spanish), Annabell (German), and Annabla (Irish) are variants of Annabella that are used in other languages. See also the related forms, Anna (Czech, English, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Slavic, Spanish, Breton, Catalan, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, and French), Arabella (English, German, and Italian), and Amabel (English). Annabella is fairly popular as a baby name for girls, and it is also perceived to be fairly trendy. The name's popularity has been growing since the 2000s; before that, it was of very modest use only. Its usage peaked recently in 2008 with 0.025% of baby girls being named Annabella. Its ranking then was #589. Among the group of girl names directly related to Annabella, Anna (Czech, English, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Russian, Scandinavian, Slavic, Spanish, Breton, Catalan, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, and French) was the most widely used in 2008. Its use outnumbered Annabella's by 14 times in that year. Baby names that sound like Annabella include Anabela (English and Portuguese), Anabella (English and Spanish), Amabel (English), Anabel (English and Spanish), Anabelle (English), Anibal (Spanish), Anna-Belle (English), AnnaBelle (English), Annabel (English), Annabell (German), Annabelle (English and French), Annabla (Irish), Annaple (English), and Anbel (Spanish). KEY: Pronunciation for Annabella: AE as in "at (AE.T)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)"   |
