Isabel

Isabel
	Isabella the Catholic (1451–1504) the first Spanish female monarch and a key character in the discovering of America
Gender	Female
Origin
Word/name	Egyptian / Roman.
Meaning	"Beautiful Isis"'
Other names
Related names	Isabella, Isabelle, Izabela, Isobel

Isabel (Portuguese, Spanish), 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.

Opinion has long been divided as to the origin of the name but the strongest and most credible claim would appear to be that of 'Isis bella'. This was an expression along the lines of ‘God is Great’ or ‘Allah Akbar’ but with the bella (from bellus meaning beautiful) emphasising her femininity. While it is hard to be sure through the mists of time, it would appear that attempts were made to cleanse the name, remove its non-Christian origin and class it as a variant of Elizabeth.^{[citation needed]}

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.

The Hebrew origin of the word renedered "Jezebel" in the King James Bible is איזבל ('Iyzebel in transliteration) or ē·zeh'·bel (in pronunciation). There is much irony and paradox behind the meaning of this name. Jezebel comes from two Hebrew words 'iy (meaning not) and zĕbul (meaning exhalted). This meaning would stand in contradistinction to the person of Jezebel who was queen of Israel, wife of Ahab, daughter of Ethbaal and considered to be exhalted, immodest, and unchaste in her ways. Jezebel can be found in First Kings as well as mentioned (at least figuratively) in the book of the Revelation (Rev. 2:20) [1]

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 Martínez de Perón, President of Argentina (1974–1976) and third wife of Juan Perón.
Isabel Allende, Chillean author and niece of Salvador Allende

Places

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.

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 knows as the Isabella Tiger Moth, Isia isabella.
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 V.,a mysterious fiction or real" young women who went into hiding according to the webpage (blog) created in 2003. Starting a new cybernatic narrative style http://aflightrisk.blogspot.com ;http://shes.aflightrisk.org/

Bibliography

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