Belle
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from French. From French belle (“beauty, beautiful”), from Latin bella.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Belle (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Belle has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2018. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 2 |
| 2005 | 3 |
| 2006 | 2 |
| 2007 | 6 |
| 2008 | 9 |
| 2009 | 11 |
| 2010 | 14 |
| 2011 | 18 |
| 2012 | 15 |
| 2013 | 30 |
| 2014 | 53 |
| 2015 | 61 |
| 2016 | 85 |
| 2017 | 94 |
| 2018 | 146 |
| 2019 | 114 |
| 2020 | 130 |
| 2021 | 91 |
| 2022 | 108 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls |
|---|---|
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | 11 |
| 2004 | 13 |
| 2005 | 16 |
| 2006 | 18 |
| 2007 | 24 |
| 2008 | 34 |
| 2009 | 46 |
| 2010 | 60 |
| 2011 | 78 |
| 2012 | 93 |
| 2013 | 128 |
| 2014 | 179 |
| 2015 | 244 |
| 2016 | 329 |
| 2017 | 427 |
| 2018 | 579 |
| 2019 | 699 |
| 2020 | 828 |
Belle in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Belle.Hi! My name is Belle.
- Belle ringde och sa att hon blir lite sen.Belle called and said she'll be a bit late.
- Vet du om Belle kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Belle is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Belles mamma är lärare.Belle's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Belles mamma is Belle's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Belle
How do you pronounce Belle in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Belle in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Belle mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a female given name from French. From French belle (“beauty, beautiful”), from Latin bella.
How popular is Belle in Sweden?
108 babies were named Belle in 2022. In 2020, 828 people in Sweden had Belle as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2018 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.