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It’s the only -bella/-ella name I like. It has some magic to it. I wouldn’t use it due to popularity, but I’d love to hear it on a child.

love! had a friend in jr high with this name and she es the best! pretty name

I love it! It’s one of my favorites. It sounds like a princess name.

Where I live, in fact about 20 minutes drive away, it's a golf estate much frequented by the rich and, they hope, famous; I think it also makes boutique wines! So, no, not for human use round here.

It's beautiful. At my little brother's school, one class had a little girl named Arabella.
I love how it flows, very gorgeous. I would use it someday first or middle.

I weirdly don't hate it. I really dislike other -bella names - Isabella, Annabella, and especially Bella on its own. They seem really trashy, like they're trying too hard to be fancy and frilly. But for some reason Arabella seems regal and dignified. Probably because it's not overused so its medieval history shines through. Though, if it's becoming popular, my opinion is likely to change in the next few years.

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I'd probably still be annoyed if someone named their baby this since it's still overly frilly for my taste, but as long as it doesn't get shortened to Bella, it's fine.

I find the first two syllables awkward, and I don't like "bella", (don't like it in Isabella, either), so it's a no-go for me. But it's not as bad as Isabella.

I actually like it alright. I think there are only two -ella names I like - one is Marcella, and the other is Arabella.

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I don't think it seems frilly. Arabella seems to me about as frilly as Alberta or Abigail.
Annabella and Isabella seem frilly to me - maybe because of the letters in them.
Or maybe because they have the options Annabel and Isabel, which I prefer.
I'd also probably like Arabel more than Arabella, but it's not offering itself as an alternative.
The only thing that would prevent me from putting Arabel on my fave list, would be that it contains the word Arab - not that there is anything wrong with Arabs but if I were to use the name, I can't un-notice the word there. I don't notice it when I meet an Arabella though, only when I overthink the name.

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I've met a young Arabella (born right about the time it hit top 1k) and was a little surprised at how normal and usable the name seemed. Sometimes with names that have never been popular, and/or I've never seen them as people's names, I struggle with perceiving them as regular people-names. Like Penelope and Persephone. But Athena and Arabella fit their bearers really well. I had once liked Annabel(le) but when I met one in real life, I decided I did not like it.

This message was edited 6/9/2020, 10:34 AM

I think it is a beautiful name.

I love it! I mean, it’s not like my favorite name EVER, but I still like it.

I like it

Arabella honestly looks like a name that a four/five-year-old made up to name her new Princess Dream Pony toy. In other words, it’s obnoxiously frilly.