Lunabelle
A feminine name of Latin origin meaning "beautiful moon".
Name Census estimates that about 265 living Americans carry the first name Lunabelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lunabelle today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lunabelle births was 2022 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lunabelle. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
265
~ 1 in 1,293,413 Americans
Peak year
2022
35 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,363
Tracked since 2010
Popularity
Lunabelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lunabelle from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 135 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Lunabelle by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Lunabelle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lunabelles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Lunabelle
The name Lunabelle is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is a combination of the Latin word "luna," meaning moon, and the French name "Belle," meaning beautiful. The name was likely created to evoke a sense of celestial beauty and grace.
While the name Lunabelle itself does not have a long and storied history, its component parts have been used in various forms throughout history. The word "luna" has been used to refer to the moon since ancient Roman times, and was also the name of the Roman goddess of the moon. The name Belle, on the other hand, has been a popular name in France for centuries, with origins dating back to the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Lunabelle was in the 1890s, when it was used as a character name in the novel "The Lunatic at Large" by J. Storer Clouston. However, it was not until the early 20th century that the name began to gain popularity as a given name for girls.
Perhaps the most famous Lunabelle in history was Lunabelle Vance Shofe (1912-2000), an American artist and illustrator who was best known for her work on children's books and greeting cards. Another notable Lunabelle was Lunabelle Weller (1901-1984), an American actress and singer who appeared in several films and stage productions during the 1920s and 1930s.
Other notable Lunabelles throughout history include Lunabelle Wedgeworth (1890-1973), an American educator and social worker who was instrumental in establishing the first public housing projects in the United States, and Lunabelle Isaacson (1924-2018), a Canadian author and journalist who wrote extensively about the history and culture of the Canadian Prairies.
Perhaps the most intriguing Lunabelle in history was Lunabelle Heinrichs (1897-1981), a German-American woman who claimed to have been abducted by aliens in the 1950s. Her alleged experiences were documented in several books and articles, and she became a minor celebrity in the UFO subculture of the time.
People
Lunabelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lunabelle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lunabelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lunabelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 265 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lunabelle going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,293,413 US residents.
Is Lunabelle a common name?
We classify Lunabelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lunabelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Lunabelle was 2022, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lunabelle is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Lunabelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lunabelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lunabelle in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Lunabelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lunabelle in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Lunabelle can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people are named Lunabelle?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.