UK girl's name
Annabella
A feminine name derived from the Hebrew name "Hannah" meaning "favored grace".
For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.
Annabella is a girl's name in the UK records. People looking for Annabella popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #575, with 68 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2016, with 162 births.
This profile covers 2,226 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.
The latest count is about 42% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.
We estimate that about 2,346 living people in the UK are called Annabella. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.
Key insights
- • Annabella ranked #575 for girls in England and Wales in 2024, with 68 registrations.
- • The name peaked in 2016, when 162 girls were registered as Annabella.
- • Annabella ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #391 in 2023.
- • About 2,346 living people in the UK are estimated to have Annabella as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.
Latest rank (E&W)
#575
2024
Births in 2024
68
Latest year
Peak year
2016
162 births
Estimated living
2,346
2026
Meaning
What does Annabella mean?
Annabella is a feminine given name derived from the Latin name Annabella, which combines the name Anna and the word "bella" meaning beautiful. It is a romantic name that has been in use since the Middle Ages.
The name Anna itself has Hebrew origins, coming from the Hebrew name Hannah which means "grace" or "favor." The name Hannah appears in the Old Testament as the mother of the prophet Samuel. It became more widely used in Europe after being Latinized to Anna.
The name Annabella gained popularity during the Renaissance era in Italy. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Annabella Drummond (1350-1401), Queen of Scotland as the wife of King Robert III. She was a powerful political figure who acted as regent for her son King James I.
In English literature, one of the most famous references to the name is the character Annabella in John Ford's 1633 tragic play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. The name also appears in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, though as a minor character.
Other notable historical figures named Annabella include Annabella Milbanke (1792-1860), an English aristocrat who married the poet Lord Byron in 1815. Their tumultuous marriage ended in a bitter separation after just one year.
In the 19th century, Italian composer Vincenzo Bellini wrote the opera Annabella di Tolomei, first performed in 1836. The name was fairly popular among English and Italian nobility during this era.
Other bearers of the name include Annabella Drummond (1713-1789), a Scottish aristocrat, and Annabella Milbanke (1856-1923), an English botanical artist and cousin of Lord Byron's wife.
Sourced from namecensus.com.
Popularity
Annabella over time
The chart below shows babies named Annabella registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.
For Annabella, the clearest high point is 2016. The latest England and Wales figure is 68 births in 2024, compared with 162 at the peak.
Babies born per year
Decades
Annabella by decade
Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Annabella was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.
| Decade | Average rank | Total births | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | #570 | 345 | 5 |
| 2010s | #351 | 1,343 | 10 |
| 2000s | #727 | 455 | 10 |
| 1990s | #1004 | 83 | 4 |
Geography
Where Annabella is most common
The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Annabella. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.
Annabella ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #391 in 2023.
Across the UK
Annabella in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Scotland (NRS)
#790 in 2024
19 years of NRS records, 108 total registered
Northern Ireland (NISRA)
#391 in 2023
7 years of NISRA records, 23 total registered
Notable bearers
Famous people named Annabella
-
Annabella Mary Victoria Willink
(born 1975)
1975-
-
Annabella Lwin
singer; record producer; songwriter
English-Burmese singer
1966-
-
Annabella Alexandrina Campbell Boswell
memoirist
British diarist and gentlewoman (1826-1914)
1826-1916
-
Annabella Telfair
botanical collector; scientific collector; scientific illustrator; botanical illustrator
British botanical artist and botanical collector (1787 - 1832)
1787-1832
-
Annabella Plumptre
writer; translator
(1761–1838), writer and translator
1769-1838
-
Annabella Bunbury
first wife of Sir Patrick Blake, 1st Baronet, 1745-1841
1745-1841
Related
Names similar to Annabella
- Amelia 94,830
- Ava 54,556
- Amy 52,495
- Alice 46,815
- Abigail 45,658
- Amber 31,922
- Anna 27,802
- Alexandra 19,455
- Amelie 18,051
- Abbie 15,971
- Aimee 15,158
- Annabelle 15,120
FAQ
Annabella: questions and answers
How popular is the name Annabella in the UK right now?
In 2024, Annabella was ranked #575 for girls in England and Wales, with 68 births registered.
When was Annabella most popular?
The peak year on record was 2016, with 162 babies registered as Annabella in England and Wales.
What is the meaning and origin of Annabella?
A feminine name derived from the Hebrew name "Hannah" meaning "favored grace".
How many people are called Annabella in the UK?
A total of 2,226 babies have been registered as Annabella across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 108 more in Scotland and 23 in Northern Ireland.
Where is Annabella most common?
In the latest published local rankings, Annabella ranks best in Northern Ireland, where it placed #391 in 2023. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.
Which records is this page based on?
The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.