Isabel is a female name of Iberian 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. Variant forms and spellings include Isabella, Ysabelle, Isobel, and Isobelle.
Today Isabel 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.
[Albert Dauzat, Noms et prénoms de France, Librairie Larousse 1980, édition revue et commentée par Marie-Thérèse Morlet, p. 337a.][Chantal Tanet et Tristan Hordé, Dictionnaire des prénoms, Larousse, Paris, 2009, p. 38] 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).
[Guido Gómez de Silva, Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1985.] 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).
[Hanks, Patrick und Flavia Hodges. Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press, 1996, p.166.] 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 Isabel
Individuals named Isabelle
Individuals named Isobelle
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Isobelle Carmody (born 1958), Australian writer
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Isobelle Ann Dods-Withers (1876–1939), Scottish artist
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Isobelle Mary Ferguson (1926–2019), Aboriginal Australian nurse and activist
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Isobelle Jones (born 2007), British runner
-
Isobelle Molloy, English actress
Fictional characters
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Isabel Hoffman, American Girl character
-
Isabelle ( Animal Crossing), an anthropomorphic dog character who was introduced as the mayor's assistant in the Nintendo 3DS game title
-
Isabelle Andersson, character in the Sune book series, Sune's younger sister
-
Isabelle Kruger, a character played by Marion Cotillard in the 2005 film The Black Box
-
Isabelle (comics), a Belgian comic book series
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Isabelle of Cornwall, the mother of Tristan in Arthurian legend
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Isabel Fernandez, character in the book Refugee
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Isabelle Lightwood, character in The Mortal Instruments series and Shadowhunters TV series based on the novel
-
Isabelle Palmer, American Girl character
-
Isabelle Tyler, a character on the USA Network science fiction television series The 4400
See also
-
Isabel (disambiguation)
-
Isabela (disambiguation)
-
Isabella (disambiguation)
-
Isa (name)
