Mabel - Origin and Meaning of the name

The girl name Mabel [ 2 syll. ma-bel, mab-el ] is pronounced as MEYBahL ^KEY. Mabel is an English and Spanish name of Old French and Spanish origin. Old French origin, English use: Developed from the elements 'amabel' lovely ; 'amare' to love. Old forms of the name include the Latin Amabilia, the Latin Amabilis, the Latin Mabella, the Latin Mabilia, the Latin Mabilla, and the Latin Mably. The name is derived from the Old French 'amabel' which is of the root word 'amare'. The 'A-' syllable was first dropped in the 12th century; from the 12th to 15th century, Mabel was pronounced M.AE.B.ah.L with AE as in "at (AE.T)". The current pronunciation arose from a revival of the name in the 19th century.

The English Amabel, the English Mable, and the Irish Máible are variant forms of Mabel.

In addition, Mabel is a short form of the Spanish name María Isabel.

Mabel is uncommon as a baby name for girls. At the height of its usage in 1901, 0.825% of baby girls were named Mabel. Its ranking then was #24. The baby name has since experienced a marked decline in frequency, and is now used on a very light scale. Within all girl names in its group, Mabel was nevertheless the most popular in 2007. Mabel has predominantly been a girl name, though in the past century it has also been used for boys. In 1909, Mabel as a girl name outnumbered its use as a boy name by 88 times.

Baby names that sound like Mabel include the English Mable, the Irish Máible, and the English Mavelle.

^KEY: Pronunciation for Mabel: M as in "me (M.IY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)"

Popularity Trend
for Mabel
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Mabel
in 2007