Belle

Short form of Isabelle or French

"beautiful"

Belle Origin and Meaning

The name Belle is a girl's name of French origin meaning "beautiful".

Belle has nothing but positive associations, from "belle of the ball" to "Southern belle" to the heroine of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. As if this weren't enough good things, Belle is also one of the most familiar and usable names that mean beautiful. Though it has been overshadowed by the Twilight-influenced Bella and longer forms like Isabella and Annabella, Belle has its own Southern charm and would make a pretty choice as a first or middle name.

Belle was a Top 100 name in the 1880s, but left the list in 1934. It returned to the US Top 1000 for the first time in 80 years in 2016, only to drop off again in 2021. Its most famous bearer was the legendary Western outlaw, Belle Starr (born Myra); Belle Watling is a character in Gone With the Wind.

Read more about Belle and other Disney Princess Names in our featured blog.

Belle Rank in US Top 1000

# 977 in the US

Belle Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 371 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Belle

• 977 US 2022
• 371 Nameberry 2025
• 9 Unique 2023
• 406 Future 2028
• 341 England 2023
• 94 Sweden 2020
• 54 Dogs 2022
• 59 Cats 2022

20 Names Similar to Belle

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Belle.

• Hope
• April
• Eve
• Melody
• Jasmine
• Holly
• Amber
• Summer
• Heather
• Zoe
• Bella
• Faith
• Autumn
• Ariel
• Annabelle
• Lola
• Jade
• Chloe
• Scarlet
• Robin

Famous People Named Belle

• Belle Bennett American actress
• Belle Baker (born Bella Becker) American singer and actress
• Camilla Belle (Routh) American actress
• Belle Brezing American madam; possible inspiration for Belle Watling in "Gone with the Wind"
• Belle Miriam Silverman birth name of Beverly Sills, American operatic soprano
• Belle Chrystall English actress
• Belle Cole American operatic contralto
• Belle Kinney Scholz American sculptor
• Belle Mitchell American actress
• Belle Moskowitz American political adviser
• Belle Reynolds American Civil War heroine
• Belle Gunness (born Brynhild Paulsdatter) Norwegian,American serial killer
• Belle Goldschlager Baranceanu American painter
• Belle Jennings Benchley American zoologist
• Belle Baldwin (b. 2011) daughter of TV presenter Holly Willoughby and Dan Baldwin
• Belle Elizabeth Piper (b. 2014) daughter of model/philanthropist Katie Piper
• Belle Scarlett Holtby (b. 2014) daughter of ice hockey player Braden Holtby

The name Belle in Pop Culture

• Belle main character in Disney's "Beauty and the Beast"
• Belle Watling character in Margaret Mitchell's "Gone with the Wind"
• Belle Moffat character in Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women"
• Belle character in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"
• Belle Black character in American soap opera "Days of our Lives"
• Belle Dingle character on British soap "Emmerdale"
• Belle Taylor character on Australian soap opera "Home and Away"
• Belle Fisher character in "A woman called Fancy" by Frank Yerby
• Belle the Sleeping Car character in musical "Starlight Express"
• Belle character in "Belle et Sébastien," children's novel by Cécile Aubry
• Belle one of Snoopy's siblings from the comic strip Peanuts
• Belle and Sebastian Scottish indie pop band
• Wild Belle American indie pop band
• Belle Rain Water character in "My Heart Is on the Ground" in the "Dear America" book series
• Symbian Belle mobile operating system
• Belle French a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time
• Belle Donner alias of Yolanda Yewbeam, character in Jenny Nimmo's "The Children of the Red King" series
• Belle Rayburn character in Netflix's "Bloodline"
• Sweetie Belle character in "My Little Pony" series