Arabella is a wondrous, beauty of a name. As a matter of fact, a tragic bearer of this name is our youngest president John F. Kennedy's still-born daughter Arabella, who is buried in their family cemetery which includes John F. Kennedy Jr., Jaqueline Kennedy Oanasis, and sadly babies Arabella and Patrick Kennedy.
Arabella is the name of the wife of Jonathan Strange in the book 'Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell'. Her character has quite a big role in it, and a nice one too.
Arbella Stuart was an English noblewoman who was for some time considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I.
She was the only child of Charles Stuart, 5th Earl of Lennox and Elizabeth Cavendish. Her paternal grandparents were Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Margaret Douglas. Her father was a younger brother of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, second King Consort of Mary I of Scotland. Her maternal grandparents were Sir William Cavendish and Bess of Hardwick.
She died September 27, 1615 in the Tower of London after marrying William Seymour without first gaining the permission of King James VI.
In the movie 'The Prince & Me' starring Julia Stiles the prince's younger sister is named Arabella called Arie.
-- Anonymous User 6/27/2007
An 18th century novel by Charlotte Lennox is "The Female Quixote: or, The Adventures of Arabella". The titular heroine is a noble, though misguided, young woman who has to learn to balance the realities of contemporary society with the unrealistic exalted ideals she has imbibed from reading too much historical fiction.
I think Arabella is Babe's real name on All My Children (the character, not the actor). I don't like her that much, but I'm still trying to decide if I like this name or not.
Arbella Stewart (not a spelling error - her name was spelt with only two A's) was a cousin of Elizabeth I and at one time expected to be named her heir. It didn't happen, of course, but she has sometimes been dubbed the "Lost Queen" of England.
An interesting historical English bearer was Arabella Churchill (23 February 1648 – 30 May 1730) who was the mistress of King James II, and the mother of four of his children. Arabella was the child of Sir Winston Churchill (an ancestor of the Prime Minister of the same name) and Elizabeth Drake.
The Massachusetts Bay colony (note: not the Pilgrims' Plymouth colony) originally came to Massachusetts on 17 ships, the Winthrop fleet. The main ship was called the Arbella (or Arabella). Named for a Lady Arbella (or Arabella) who traveled on this voyage.