** 'Isabel**' is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of Elisabeth (ultimately Hebrew Elisheba). Arising in the 12th century, it became popular in England in the 13th century following the marriage of Isabella of Angoulême to the king of England. Today it is sometimes abbreviated to Isa.

Etymology

This set of names is a Spanish variant of the Hebrew name Elisheba through Latin and Greek represented in English and other European languages as Elisabeth. These names are derived from the Latin and Greek renderings of the Hebrew name based on both etymological and contextual evidence (the use of Isabel as a translation of the name of the mother of John the Baptist). The variant form originated through the loss of the first syllable through rebracketing and the replacement of final with (as does not appear word-finally in standard Spanish). Elisabeth was understood in Spain as a name with the masculine definite article el "the", that is to say *El Isabeth, from it, the short form *Isabeth where the final -el was substituted to -eth, both for aesthetical reasons or feminization, or the entire syllable -bel was substituted to -beth, by analogy with bella "pretty, beautiful".

Notable individuals

Individuals named Isabelle

Fictional characters