Name Awesome

Isobel

#2,307 in 2025Girls' name

My God is an oath, through Isabel

Isobel has been given to 3,802 babies in the U.S. since 1894. In 2025 it ranked #2,307 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 129 recorded.

Babies named Isobel, 2025

1 in 42,000

Isobel over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Isobel: meaning, origin, and history

My God is an oath, through Isabel

Hebrew

What Isobel means

Isobel belongs to the name family reached through Isobel → Isabel. Its meaning is “my God is an oath”.

Origin, language, and formation

Isobel is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Isabel.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,802 girls were recorded with the name Isobel between 1894 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 129 in 2016; its best national rank was #817 in 1916.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,996 in 2020 to #2,307 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,098 in 2015 to #2,307 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Isobel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 42,000
79 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 20,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,307
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
29,088 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Isobel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5001%

Put another way: gather 29,088 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Isobel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Isobels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Isobel was born before 2005 — so the typical Isobel is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
25.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
56.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,572
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 25.8% of all recorded uses (981).

Is Isobel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+29
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−311
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−209
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.85×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
61.2%
Peak was 2016 (129)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
15.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#817
1916

Spellings of Isobel

Isobel is not the most common spelling — Isabel is, with 77.3% against Isobel's 2.2%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Isobel is used

Across 2016–2025, Isobel was most concentrated in Massachusetts — about 1 in 10,000 girls, against 1 in 22,153 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in 50,000).

210 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Massachusetts1 in 10,000
  2. 2Pennsylvania1 in 11,111
  3. 3New York1 in 12,500
  4. 4California1 in 16,667
  5. 5Virginia1 in 16,667
  6. 6Iowa1 in 25,000
  7. 7Ohio1 in 25,000
  8. 8Georgia1 in 33,333

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Isobel around the world

Where Isobel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #246
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #198
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1999–2025
    #290
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1964–2025
    #239
    in 2025
  • France
    2006–2019
    #7,538
    in 2019
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #963
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2013
    #180
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Isobel

People whose public names include Isobel, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Isobel in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Isobel. Linked forms have their own page here.

IsabelYsobelIsobellIssobell

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Isobel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,307
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 311
Best rank ever
#817
1916
Peak year
2016
129 that year
First recorded
1894
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,802
Count in 2025
79

Names similar to Isobel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

IzabelYsabelAnabelIsoldeRebelClaribelMirabelAnnabelMaybelJezebelJezabelMaribelRosabelMaebelIsobellaArabelRosibelIsolaSibelIsabelMarybelIsobelleArisbelAmabel

Names with a curve like Isobel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Isobel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

EmelineLilliaArizonaArieEmaZadieIsadoraVivienEvalynAudreeMillyAleen

Sibling names for Isobel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Isobel

Top names of 2016, Isobel's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1916Girls' names starting with ICool Girl NamesScottish Girl NamesScottish Names