Will Arabella date?

[Audres]

It's on our list but worried about it suddenly becoming quite popular. I never heard it growing up at all. I know Peter Andre has recently used it so I know it's on trend. Will it date badly do you think, along with Ophelia, Luna etc?

how does a name date? and badly at that

As in names that suddenly become popular that weren't before. Like Sandra, Barbara, Angela etc. Names that are of their time.

I think you are actually asking will my child be unique if I choose it?

it’s already dated in my view but it’s not a bad name.

Every second girl under the age of 13 here is Bella, they are all Isabelle, Isobel, Isabella, Arabella, but day to day every one of them is Bella it's all you hear, it's ubiquitous. So I wouldn't or if you do call her Ari not Bella

A name that dates tends to go from relative obscurity to becoming very popular very quickly and then it falls fast. Arabella is currently probably at its peak and will soon start to fall alongside Isabella.
However I don't think it's ever been as popular as Isabella and hasn't become saturated in quite the same way. Most names have a cyclical nature, it personally wouldn't put me off if I loved it.

It's a name from an Enid Blyton book - i think one of the school stories.

I don't mind it. Not one I'd choose but it's nice.

Most girls in my daughters year group are a varient of; Arabella, Anabella, Isabella, Isobel, Annabell

I love it!

I think it will date your child to this time frame, because it's got quite a steep rise and potential drop off, so most people named it will be of a certain age. Doesn't mean you shouldn't use it if you love it, but it is a cyclical name not perennially popular.

names.darkgreener.com/#arabella

I think it’s a beautiful name, and although popular, I don’t think names will date like they used to.

My mother wanted to call my Arabella in the late 70s.

Fortunately my father intervened as it was "too posh".

So it's been around for a long time, but the -bella names are currently over used IMO so might date. But lots of the classics - Katherine, Beatrice, Charlotte, Olivia - remain perenilly popular in the top 100 lists.

@Audres , it won't suddenly become very popular, and there's a fairly reasonable chance she'll be the only Arabella in her group of friends.

What is likely is that her name will be shortened to Bella or Ella, and there are loads of those. Names like Ella, Bella, Isabella, Isabelle, Annabelle etc have been very popular for a long time and they will fall out of fashion.

If you love it use it.

Not especially but I think of it as being a posh 80s name à la Jilly Cooper

It probably was a 'posh' name in the 1980s. I don't think of it as a posh name now. It's probably a -Rose, -Grace, -Mae, -Rae ... name.

Both Arabellas that I know are always called Bella. I know three named Isabelle or Isabella and they are all called Izzy.

Arabella is a lovely name. Luna is a dog’s name (but so is Bella).

I am 55 and it's been around all my life so, no.

My neighbours daughter is Arabella she’s 12, her friends & parents call her Bella.

@ImSweetEnough , it's been around but there weren't many. I can think of one or two Ellas or Bellas (Arabella, Gabriella) my age and one Ella (Arabella) about my DM's age.
Collectively, the Ellie/Ella trend has been very popular over the past 25 years or so. Baby name explorer - Arabella shows steady use with a recent surge.

It definitely used to be an aristocratic / 'horsey set' name when I was a child. You wouldn't ever come across one in real life.

I think now, it is a 'fashion' name which will date her to this period, yes. I agree with @TheCurious0range re every 2nd or 3rd girl U8 here being some form of 'Bella' though, which would put me off the name.

@RecordBreakers , the one I know who's much older is definitely not aristrocratic or 'horsey set'. It might have been a family name.

Before the current popularity, I would have associated it with Arabella Weir, and thought of it as being in the same sort of group of names as Felicity and Annabel.

Arabella is a nice name. Does the risk of your daughter being another Bella upset you?

Other ideas ..
Augusta
Millicent
Octavia
Mirabelle
Marigold
Edwina
Gabriella
Camilla
Alexandra

I think it is a bit like Sebastian, a name that used to be unusual and fairly posh, but has become a lot more popular in very recent years, and I would say in the last five or so is much more widely used than before - though still less so than the Isabellas (or the Annabels when I was young).

However, it has the benefit of belonging with the royal names, courtesy of Arabella, sometimes spelled Arbella (possible variant if you like it?) Stuart and to me that moves it into the classics and I don't think it will ever really truly date like Brenda, Michelle etc that were less classic.

It is a pretty name I think, elegant and versatile, and I slightly prefer it to Isabella or Annabel, though they are a similar vibe.

I think it is a bit like Sebastian, a name that used to be unusual and fairly posh, but has become a lot more popular in very recent years, and I would say in the last five or so is much more widely used than before

Both have completely lost the 'posh' association for me. As have Hugo, Marcus, Annabel(le) and Olivia.

Arabella is pretty, as is Isabella, but they'll be shortened, and the diminutives aren't great.

-bella- names are all over the place. It's so overused.

I don't see the appeal of names like Ella and Ellie. They seem so unsubstantial.
Bella seems quite different and I think cockerpoo or a large bossy now elderly housekeeper. (Eva also has that vibe for me, and I'm aware that it is a 'me only' thing).