Isobel
Isobel was given to 79 girls in 2025, #2,307 among girls’ names; 3,802 Americans have been recorded with it since 1894 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,620 Americans named Isobel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (69% of everyone recorded); the median is 15 years old and half are between 8 and 23.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Isobel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Isobel mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Isobel is “a female given name from Hebrew, variant of Isabel.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Isobel?
#2,307 among girls’ names, 2025
Isobel fell from #2,098 in 2015 to #2,307 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 52.1 to 49.2 per million.
129 babies in 2016, the peak
Isobel peaked in 2016, when 129 girls were given it, #1,664 among girls’ names. The 79 births of 2025 are 61% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 79 | #2,307 | 49.2 |
| 2024 | 79 | #2,336 | 48.8 |
| 2023 | 95 | #2,055 | 59.2 |
| 2022 | 84 | #2,233 | 51.2 |
| 2021 | 92 | #2,077 | 56.1 |
| 2020 | 94 | #1,996 | 58.1 |
| 2019 | 91 | #2,079 | 54.2 |
| 2018 | 89 | #2,137 | 52.3 |
| 2017 | 112 | #1,836 | 64.9 |
| 2016 | 129 | #1,664 | 72.8 |
Every recorded year (103)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 93 | #2,098 | 52.1 |
| 2014 | 98 | #2,016 | 54.9 |
| 2013 | 100 | #1,971 | 57.0 |
| 2012 | 85 | #2,215 | 48.3 |
| 2011 | 82 | #2,283 | 46.6 |
| 2010 | 102 | #1,965 | 57.4 |
| 2009 | 95 | #2,126 | 51.7 |
| 2008 | 81 | #2,386 | 42.8 |
| 2007 | 110 | #1,888 | 57.2 |
| 2006 | 78 | #2,408 | 41.0 |
| 2005 | 52 | #3,063 | 28.1 |
| 2004 | 50 | #3,088 | 27.2 |
| 2003 | 67 | #2,446 | 36.7 |
| 2002 | 69 | #2,335 | 38.4 |
| 2001 | 57 | #2,642 | 31.7 |
| 2000 | 56 | #2,641 | 30.8 |
| 1999 | 61 | #2,410 | 34.4 |
| 1998 | 48 | #2,772 | 27.2 |
| 1997 | 44 | #2,785 | 25.3 |
| 1996 | 19 | #5,140 | 10.8 |
| 1995 | 27 | #3,915 | 15.4 |
| 1994 | 25 | #4,159 | 14.0 |
| 1993 | 17 | #5,501 | 9.4 |
| 1992 | 9 | #9,010 | 4.9 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,190 | 5.3 |
| 1990 | 10 | #8,098 | 5.3 |
| 1988 | 7 | #9,623 | 3.9 |
| 1974 | 6 | #8,061 | 4.1 |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,595 | 4.0 |
| 1965 | 7 | #5,486 | 4.0 |
| 1962 | 5 | #6,948 | 2.5 |
| 1959 | 6 | #5,837 | 3.0 |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,045 | 5.0 |
| 1956 | 11 | #3,779 | 5.5 |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,086 | 2.6 |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,268 | 4.3 |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,083 | 3.3 |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,610 | 2.9 |
| 1948 | 8 | #4,012 | 4.7 |
| 1947 | 13 | #2,963 | 7.3 |
| 1946 | 11 | #3,108 | 7.0 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,241 | 4.6 |
| 1944 | 5 | #4,851 | 3.8 |
| 1943 | 8 | #3,621 | 5.7 |
| 1942 | 8 | #3,551 | 5.9 |
| 1941 | 10 | #2,927 | 8.3 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,481 | 10.5 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,974 | 5.5 |
| 1938 | 9 | #3,028 | 8.2 |
| 1937 | 12 | #2,499 | 11.3 |
| 1936 | 17 | #1,910 | 16.3 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,874 | 17.2 |
| 1934 | 16 | #2,033 | 15.3 |
| 1933 | 28 | #1,383 | 27.8 |
| 1932 | 34 | #1,246 | 31.9 |
| 1931 | 17 | #1,982 | 16.0 |
| 1930 | 33 | #1,333 | 29.3 |
| 1929 | 29 | #1,431 | 26.0 |
| 1928 | 46 | #1,124 | 39.9 |
| 1927 | 43 | #1,180 | 36.1 |
| 1926 | 37 | #1,291 | 31.2 |
| 1925 | 49 | #1,096 | 40.3 |
| 1924 | 36 | #1,369 | 28.8 |
| 1923 | 47 | #1,121 | 39.0 |
| 1922 | 42 | #1,196 | 35.0 |
| 1921 | 58 | #978 | 47.0 |
| 1920 | 35 | #1,329 | 29.2 |
| 1919 | 35 | #1,305 | 31.0 |
| 1918 | 40 | #1,194 | 34.6 |
| 1917 | 42 | #1,102 | 38.8 |
| 1916 | 69 | #817 | 66.1 |
| 1915 | 38 | #1,107 | 38.6 |
| 1914 | 42 | #908 | 55.1 |
| 1913 | 29 | #1,014 | 46.4 |
| 1912 | 35 | #852 | 62.7 |
| 1911 | 19 | #1,020 | 45.4 |
| 1910 | 17 | #1,090 | 42.9 |
| 1909 | 13 | #1,180 | 37.4 |
| 1908 | 21 | #863 | 62.8 |
| 1907 | 12 | #1,169 | 37.7 |
| 1906 | 18 | #885 | 61.0 |
| 1905 | 17 | #910 | 58.3 |
| 1904 | 12 | #1,074 | 43.6 |
| 1903 | 13 | #999 | 49.6 |
| 1902 | 10 | #1,167 | 37.9 |
| 1901 | 6 | #1,564 | 25.1 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,643 | 23.4 |
| 1899 | 7 | #1,322 | 30.0 |
| 1898 | 9 | #1,211 | 34.8 |
| 1897 | 6 | #1,457 | 25.6 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,693 | 21.0 |
| 1895 | 10 | #1,086 | 42.8 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,580 | 22.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Isobel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Isobel has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 103 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Isobel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Isobel, and how old are they?
2,620 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 69% of the 3,802 Americans ever recorded as Isobel. The median Isobel alive today is 15 years old; half are between 8 and 23.
The 2020 Census counted 2,764 people named Isobel (2,754 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,220 born in the U.S. The Census count is 25% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 62 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 65 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 18 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 121 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,130 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,230 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Isobel born?
The states with the most babies named Isobel are California, New York and Texas, with 100% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 11 | #1,880 | 0.8× |
| New York | 5 | #2,221 | 1.1× |
| Texas | 5 | #3,508 | 0.3× |
Where Isobel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Isobel is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Isobel with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 153,058 babies since 1880, Isobel is the third most given (2.5% of them). In 2025 it was given to 79 of their 1,912 babies (4.1%), again the third most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Isobel and names like it
- Compare Isobel and IsabelBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sIsobel peaked in 2016.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Isobel since 1910.
- The top names of 2016The year the most babies were named Isobel.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Isobel alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with IMost given first.