Bella is a name of Italian origin, and it is a diminutive form of Isabella, which is the Italian version of the name Elizabeth. The latter is of Hebrew origin, and it means ‘God is my oath’ or ‘God is satisfaction’.
Bella is a first name typically given to girls, but in rare cases also used as a boys name.
The first name Bella is one of the top 100 most popular girls names in the US – currently at #59 in our SmartGenius ranking. Over 1,000 babies each year are named Bella, accounting for approximately 0.30 % of all newborn girls. In the entire USA, approximately 72,679 people – children, adults and seniors – currently bear the name Bella. That is 0.02 % of all living Americans.
Bella is a name of Italian origin, and it is a diminutive form of Isabella, which is the Italian version of the name Elizabeth. The latter is of Hebrew origin, and it means ‘God is my oath’ or ‘God is satisfaction’.
In Italian,... bella means 'beautiful'. 'Ciao, bella' (or bello if adressed to a man) is generally meant as a friendly greeting.
Bella Swan
Isabella 'Bella' Marie Masen-Cullen (née Swan) is the protagonist character of the Twilight book series (2005 – 2020) by Stephenie Meyer. Bella is depicted as a young, shy, and awkward high school student who moves to Forks, Washington and falls in love with a vampire named Edward Cullen. She becomes embroiled in a love triangle with Edward and shapeshifter Jacob Black. She is challenged of being part of the supernatural world and trying to maintain her human life. In 'The Twilight Saga' film series (2008 – 2012), Bella is portrayed by actress Kristen Stewart.
Bella Hadid (*1996)
Isabella 'Bella' Khairiah Hadid is an American supermodel who comes from a family of successful models, including her older sister, Gigi Hadid. She started modeling at the age of 16 and since appeard almost thirty times on international Vogue magazines. In 2016 she was voted 'Model of the Year' as she rose to being one of the most recognizable and in-demand models in the fashion industry. She worked for numerous high fashion brands and apeared in several films and music videos.
Bella Thorne (*1997)
Annabella 'Bella' Avery Thorne is an American actress, singer, and writer. Even as a child, she acted, starring as Margaux Darling in the series 'Dirty Sexy Money' (2007–2008) and as Ruthy Spivey in the drama series My Own Worst Enemy (2009). She had her breakthrough acting as CeCe Jones in the Disney Channel hit series 'Shake It Up' (2010 – 2013). Thorne has since gone on to star in several other popular television shows and movies, including 'Famous in Love' (2017 – 2018) and 'Midnight Sun' (2018). She won severeal Young Artist Awards and was nominated for various other prizes.
Bella Ramsey (*2003)
Isabella 'Bella' May Ramsey is an English actor who is known for her breakthrough role as Lyanna Mormont in the popular HBO series 'Game of Thrones' (2016–2019) as well as for her television roles as Mildred Hubble in the CBBC series 'The Worst Witch' (2017 – 2020) and as Lady Jane Grey in the historical drama series 'Becoming Elizabeth' (since 2022). In 2023, she received acclaim for her role as Ellie in the tv adaptation of 'The Last of Us.' The young actress is recognized for her strong acting skills and versatility.
When you hear the name Bella, you might first think of a woman or a girl. But did you know that there are also places with the name Bella? Are you also called Bella? Maybe one day you will visit the places that are named just like you...
One of the Borromean Islands of Lago Maggiore in North Italy is called Isola Bella. It is divided between the Palace, its Italianate garden, and a small fishing village.
In southern Italy there is a picturesque Island with the name Isola Bella. It is located within a small bay on the Ionian Sea and serves as nature reserve.
695 Bella is the name of an asteroid which is orbiting the Sun and which is most likely an interloper.
there is a town and commune called Bella. It is located in the province of Potenza, in the region of Basilicata.
If we dig really deep into our statistics, we find that there are very few girls' names that have been consistently popular for so long that they have been given to newborns in every single year since the beginning of our records in 1880. In fact, there are only 432 girls' names that appear in our statistics in every single year, and Bella is one of those very special classics. At the same time, Bella has never been more popular than it is in this century - in 2010, the name even made it to rank #45 of the most popular girls' names, easily landing in the top 100 of our SmartGenius first name statistics.
In years where the graph has no value, the name Bella was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.
...because: In 2022, 2,888 girls were born and given the name Bella by their parents. That puts Bella at #84 on our list of most popular girls' names. It was much less popular in 1989 - only 17 parents chose this name for their newborn daughter and it ranked 4,625 on the popularity scale of all girls' names.
The name Bella may not be in the top rankings of the most popular girls’ names, but it is one of the few female given names, along with only 536 others, that can be found in every single state in the U.S. from Alaska to Florida and from California to New York. Of course, the name occurs more frequently in some states than in others – and Bella is apparently especially popular in Nevada. Although the name is not one of the top 100 most popular women’s names here either, one in 497 women in Nevada is called Bella. In total, that’s 898 women who feel addressed when the name Bella is shouted loudly across Nevada and who ensure that their name makes it to #130 in our SmartGenius ranking of the most common female names in this nice state. If you asked all women in the entire U.S. for their first name, you would hear Bella as the answer a total of 72,679 times. This places Bella at #414 in our SmartGenius statistics for the most popular women’s names in the whole of the USA. This is true for all currently living women across all states and age groups – the recent popularity of the name Bella as a baby name is, of course, a bit different, as you can see from the statistics above.
Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: 3.2% of all common girls' names in the US begin with a B. This means that B as the first letter for girls' names is neither particularly common nor rare. The most common first letters of girls' names are A, S and M, while U, X and Q are the least common initials of girls' names.
With five letters, the name Bella is comparatively short. In fact, 17.0% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly five letters. Only 7% of all first names are even shorter, while 75% have more than five letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.
Thus, if 3.2% of all girls’ names start with a B, this initial letter is slightly less common than all other letters on average. Nevertheless, there are girls' names with B that are quite common in the U.S., the most common at present is Barbara.
If your name is Bella and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...
So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Bella, you can simply say:
Butterfly
Elephant
Lion
Lion
Apple
Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.
Bella
Bella
Just use American Sign Language!
These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.
B
E
L
L
A
In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.
B
E
L
L
A
In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Bella sounds like this:
