Issabella is a spelling variant of Isabella, ultimately from Hebrew Elisheva, meaning 'God is my oath.'
Issabella is a doubled-s variant of Isabella, itself the Latinized Spanish and Italian form of Elizabeth — from the Hebrew Elisheba, meaning "my God is an oath" or, in some readings, "my God is abundance." The name traveled from Hebrew through Greek (Elisavet) and Latin (Elisabeth) into the medieval Romance languages, where the Spanish form Ysabel and its Latin elaboration Isabella emerged. The doubling of a consonant in spelling variants like Issabella reflects an old Romance-language orthographic tradition emphasizing a particular syllable stress or simply creating visual emphasis.
Isabella as a name is inseparable from royalty. Isabella I of Castile, who unified Spain and funded Columbus's 1492 voyage, was perhaps the most powerful woman of the fifteenth century, and her name carried monarchical prestige across Europe for generations. Isabella of France, Isabella of Portugal, Isabella of Aragon — the name appears in virtually every royal dynasty of the medieval and early modern periods.
Later, the Romantic poets embraced it: Keats wrote "Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil," a tale of tragic love, cementing the name's literary melancholy. In the twenty-first century, Isabella became one of the most popular girls' names in the English-speaking world, bolstered by the Twilight saga's protagonist. Issabella, with its distinctive double-s, offers parents a way to honor that rich tradition while creating something visually unique — a small orthographic flourish that says this particular Isabella is her own person, distinct even within one of history's most storied names.