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?

I actually knew a large bossy Eva (dinner lady) when I was young and it definitely has that vibe for me.

Bella much less so. It is very overused at the moment, but means pretty and I think it still is. I prefer it to Ellie and Ella.

I think of it as an 80s posh name which isn’t a problem per se but how do you feel about your daughter ending up as Ella or Bella? There’s a lot of names that shorten to the same - Isabella etc

I read your title and thought "yes, the landed gentry and rich farmer's sons probably". So on that basis I think the name will age well. It's a traditional name that's been around a long time.

Yes, it's a very, very old name.

There are two in my DD's class (reception so age 4-5), must have been a popular name in 2020-21! I think it's quite pretty and could be shortened to Bella. Hard to predict whether names will date, though.

The Arabella's I have met are either very young or from posh backgrounds.

Yes, all very distinctive names and very common names date. And this is basically just another riff on all of the many, many Bellas who are about. If you love it, use it if you don’t love it, don’t use it.

I always think of Jilly Cooper books when I hear the name Arabella.

Any name that climbs rapidly up the charts like Arabella has risks sounding dated in future. How badly is hard to tell at the moment - if Arabella doesn’t rise any further than its current Top 30 then imo it will probably be fine; as you do meet older Arabella’s too (usually posh and/or with Scots links where the name has a rich history) so I don’t think everyone would automatically think “oh she must have been born in the 2010’s/2020’s”.

Arabella also doesn’t follow the top trend for girls where I am, which helps it imo -the supposedly longer/frilly trend has mostly passed my area by (most of the young girls names here are short, 2 syllable and “cute” sounding); so it might be similar for your area too.

But if Arabella reaches the heady heights/popularity of names like Isla, Mia, Ava, Freya etc (none of which were in popular use in the UK pre-90’s so it’s very rare to meet older ones, but which have all been Top 5 in the 2010/2020’s); then yes, even with the occasional old Arabella around or not, it could still sound more dated in 50 years time. If you love it, I do think it’s worth the risk though.

If you are choosing because you think it’s different it’s not, the are lots of them, but if you like it use it.

@NameChange30 , they tend to date after they have reached a point where people know so many of them that they don't want to use the name for their own baby. I think that Ella and Bella names are about to reach that point.

They'll still be nice names but they'll be associated with a set age group.

If you look at names like Isabella, Isabelle, Annabelle, Bella and Ella, you'll see they have peaked.

The names becoming popular are shorter. Names like Elsie, Bonnie, Maeve, Margot, Clara etc

It won't date particularly but it is extremely horsey

I know a lot of 4/5 YO Arabellas. It feels in the same category as luna, Ophelia

Anastasia
Annunciata
Araminta
Allegra

It sounds really 80’s to me so I’d say it already has.

I think Isabella is nicer if you like the NN Bella.

I think it is a bit like Beatrice: classic, royal, maybe a bit posh, but rather beautiful with an elegance - and now having a moment in the sun in the last five years, and actually there are a lot more Beatrices I think.

But I don't think names like that really date.

I think the current interest will die down and it will revert to a quiet classic again - as will Beatrice imo. To me names that really date are more things like Maddox, Brenda, Shirley, Mia etc

Incidentally, I don't think Isabella will really "date" either - even though there are loads in my dc's classes.

I also know Isabellas who are 70, 40, 20 and then lots younger than that. But it was always there as a classic - and I think always will be.

It will date because fashions change. When I was young Isabella was unusual - Rossellini and Blow seemed to be the only ones, and the Isabelles were French actresses like Adjani and Huppert.

I don't think it will date in the way that some names date.