| Belle | Nadine | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Beautiful | hope |
| Origin | french | french |
| Gender | Girl | Girl |
| Pronunciation | BEL | nah-DEEN |
| Syllables | 1 | 2 |
| First appeared | 0 | 0 |
| Peak year | 1915 (407) | 1958 (1,011) |
| In 2025 | 0 | 0 |
| Trend | Vintage | Vintage |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Belle | Nadine |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 1,522 | 829 |
| 2010s | 2,405 | 1,555 |
| 2000s | 1,297 | 1,928 |
| 1990s | 392 | 2,684 |
| 1980s | 112 | 3,319 |
| 1970s | 171 | 3,889 |
| 1960s | 261 | 8,008 |
| 1950s | 398 | 8,979 |
| 1940s | 429 | 5,317 |
| 1930s | 538 | 6,196 |
| 1920s | 1,545 | 6,951 |
| 1910s | 2,901 | 3,095 |
| 1900s | 2,096 | 443 |
| 1890s | 2,512 | 163 |
| 1880s | 2,648 | 25 |
The French word belle 'beautiful', feminine of beau, from Latin bellus. Used as a given name meaning 'beautiful' and also a short form of names like Isabelle/Annabelle.
A French elaboration of Nadia/Nadya, ultimately from Russian Nadezhda, from the Old Slavic word meaning 'hope'. The 'hope' sense comes through the Slavic root rather than any native French element.
Belle and Nadine are given to a similar number of US babies today.
Belle means Beautiful (french origin), while Nadine means hope (french origin).
In US records, Belle first appears in 0 and Nadine in 0, so Belle has the longer recorded history.