Isabel (Portuguese, Spanish, Provençal), Isabella (Italian), Isabelle (French), Izabela (Polish) are women's names, formally translated into English as Elizabeth or Elisabeth but often substituted (in English) one for the other, seemingly arbitrarily. Spanish Isabel, for example, is often rendered into English as Italian Isabella and sometimes as French Isabelle but seldom as English Elizabeth or Elisabeth; for another example, both Isabella and Elisabetta are Italian names. A Scottish variation of the spelling is Isobel.

The name Isabella, or set of names, is a Southwestern European variant of the Hebrew name Elisheva. It first appeared in medieval Provençal as Isabel. It is clear both etymologically and contextually (the use of Isabel as a translation of the name of the mother of John the Baptist) that, like the name Elizabeth in English, the name Isabel / Isabella / Isabelle derives from the Latin and Greek renderings of the Hebrew name Elisheva.^[1]

According to Hanks/Hodges (166), the name is simply the Spanish form of the name Elisabeth, with loss of the first syllable and /l/ instead of /t/ (the latter sound does not appear word-finally in Spanish). Compare Italian Elisabetta, where the female ending -a is added.

An alternative etymology would derive the name from a hypothetical phrase, 'Isis bella', presumably derived from the Egyptian name of the goddess of love plus the Latin word for "beautiful."

Royalty

Queens

The following are queens named Isabella, ordered by year, such as Isabella of Castile (wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon):

• Isabelle of Hainaut (1170–1190), queen consort, daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainault, wife of Philip II of France.
• Isabella of Jerusalem (1170–1205).
• Isabella of Angoulême (c. 1187–1246), queen consort, second wife of John of England, mother of Henry III of England.
• Yolande of Jerusalem (1212–1228), also known as Isabella II.
• Queen Isabella of Armenia (died c. 1252).
• Elisabeth of Aragon (1271–1336), better known as Queen Elisabeth of Portugal, daughter of Pedro III of Aragon, wife of Denis of Portugal.
• Isabella of France (c.1295–1358), wife of Edward II of England, mother of Edward III of England.
• Isabeau of Bavaria (1369–1435), queen consort of France, wife of Charles VI of France.
• Isabella of Valois (1389–1409), queen consort, daughter of Charles VI of France, second wife of Richard II of England.
• Queen Isabella of Portugal (1428–c. 1457), queen consort, 2nd wife of John II of Castile, mother of Isabella I of Castile.
• Isabella of Castile (1451–1504), wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon, mother of Catherine of Aragon, patron of Christopher Columbus. Also known as Isabella the Catholic (of "Ferdinand and Isabella").
• Isabella of Asturias, (1470–1498), queen consort, daughter of Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon, wife of Manuel I of Portugal.
• Isabella of Habsburg (1501-1526), queen consort, wife of Christian II of Denmark, granddaughter of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.
• Isabella of Portugal (1503-1539), queen consort, daughter of Manuel I of Portugal, wife of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
• Isabella Jagiello (1519–1559), queen of Transylvania.
• Isabella II of Spain (1830–1904), daughter of Ferdinand VII of Spain, mother of Alfonso XII of Spain.

Other royalty

• Isabella d'Anjou (c. 1101/1107–1154), Abbess of Fontevrault, wife of William Adelin.
• Isabella of England (1214 – December 1, 1241) daughter of King John of England and Isabella of Angouleme, wife of Frederick II Hohenstaufen 'Stupor Mundi', Holy Roman Emperor.
• Isabella of Antioch (13th century), regent of Jerusalem.
• Isabella of Mar (c. 1277–1296), first wife of Robert I of Scotland.
• Princess Isabella of Armenia (died c. 1321).
• Princess Isabella of Portugal (1397–1471), wife and political advisor of Philip III, Duke of Burgundy.
• Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine (1400–1453).
• Isabella of Bourbon (1436–1465), wife of Charles, Duke of Burgundy.
• Marchioness Isabella d'Este (1474–1539), wife of Francesco II of Gonzaga.
• Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain (1566–1633), wife of Archduke Albert of Austria.
• Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (1846–1921) — Princess Imperial of Brazil, daughter of Pedro II of Brazil, abolished slavery in Brazil.
• Isabelle, Comtesse de Paris (1911–2003).
• Princess Isabella of Denmark (born 2007)

Saints

• Saint Isabel of France (1225–1270)
• Elizabeth of Portugal

Other famous people

• Isabel Allende, Chilean, author and niece of Salvador Allende.
• Isabel Godin des Odonais, traveler in the Amazon Basin.
• Isabel Martínez de Perón, President of Argentina (1974–1976) and third wife of Juan Perón.

Places

• Philippines
  • Isabel, Leyte
• Solomon Islands
  • Isabel Province
• United States
  • Isabel, Kansas
  • Isabel, South Dakota
  • Isabelle, Wisconsin
  • Isabella County, Michigan
  • Lake Isabella, California
  • Port Isabel, Texas

There are also ten places worldwide named Santa Isabel.

Fictional characters

• Ysabell, a character in the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett
• Isabella (commedia dell'arte), a character in Commedia dell'arte
• Isabella, the heroine of a story in Boccaccio's Decameron and John Keats's poem, Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.
• Isabella the Lorry, from the Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends TV Series
• Isabelle of Cornwall, the mother of Tristan in Arthurian legend
• Isabella Thorpe, a character in Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey
• Isabella Linton, a character in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights
• Isabel Archer, main character of Henry James novel The Portrait of a Lady
• Isabella, a character in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, a novice nun, sister of Claudio
• Queen Isabel of the Holy Griffin Empire, a character from the video game Heroes of Might and Magic V
• Daisuke "Isabella" Yamamoto, the transvestite fashion student in the manga series Paradise Kiss by Ai Yazawa.
• Isabella, a character in the movie Read It and Weep.
• Isabella Swan of Twilight (novel) by Stephenie Meyer
• Isabella, a character from the video game Dead Rising
• Isabella Turk, daughter of Carla Espinosa and Chris Turk on Scrubs
• Isabel, a member of The Others in Lost.
• Isabelle, the youngest child of King Babar in the Babar series.
• Isabel Lahiri, a character in the movie Oceans Twelve played by Catherine Zeta-Jones
• Isabella-Italian Pop Star from The Lizzie Mcguire Movie

Miscellaneous

• 210 Isabella, an asteroid
• Hurricane Isabel, a major hurricane that occurred in 2003.
• Isabella or isabelline, a greyish-yellow or light buff horse coat colour.
• Isabelle (comics), a series of comic books.
• Isabelle (computer game), a 1997 computer adventure game.
• Isabella (album), an album released by German Schlager group Die Flippers in 2002.
• Isabella grape, used to make a well-known type of Uhudler wine.
• Isabella piercing.
• "Isabella (The Sopranos episode)", the 12th episode of the first season of The Sopranos TV show
• Isabelle theorem prover, an interactive theorem proving system.
• Pyrrharctia isabella, the Isabella Tiger Moth.
• Isabel, a Mexican gunboat, renamed USS Falcon (1846)
• Isabella (Millais painting) a painting based on Keats' poem Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.
• Isabella and the Pot of Basil, a painting based on Keats' poem Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.
• Isabella (film) (伊莎貝拉), a 2006 film from Hong Kong. Written and directed by Pang Ho-Cheung, it stars Chapman To, Isabella Leong and Anthony Wong.

Bibliography

• Hanks, Patrick und Flavia Hodges. 1996. Oxford Dictionary of First Names. Oxford University Press.

See also

• Special:Allpages/Isabel for a more comprehensive list of article names that begin with Isabel
• Special:Allpages/Isabella for a more comprehensive list of article names that begin with Isabella
• Special:Allpages/Isabelle for a more comprehensive list of article names that begin with Isabelle

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

References

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