Bella
BELL-ə
A sweet, familiar name meaning “beautiful,” often used as a short form of longer names like Isabella or Arabella.
Meaning
In the excerpted source, Bella is said to be perhaps sometimes abbreviated from Isabella and at other times from Arabella. More broadly, it is commonly tied to the Latin/Italian root *bell-* meaning “beautiful,” which is why it feels so directly linked to beauty and loveliness.
Origin
LatinItalianHebrewfeminine
Fun fact
In older name books, Bella is sometimes treated as a nickname-form rather than a standalone given name.
Confidence: mixed. Sources: Praenomina; or, the etymology of the principal Christian names of Great Britain and Ireland.