Variant of Mabel, from Latin 'amabilis' meaning lovable, or blend of May and Belle.
Maybel is a variant of Mabel, a name with deceptively deep roots in Latin 'amabilis' — lovable, worthy of love. The path to English was indirect: the medieval Latin 'Amabilis' contracted to 'Amabel,' which then compressed further to 'Mabel,' a process of phonetic erosion that paradoxically made the name feel more English than its classical origins. In medieval England, Mabel was a lady's name of considerable standing, appearing in records from the eleventh century onward.
The name had its great popular moment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when it ranked consistently among the most common girls' names in Britain and America. Mabel Normand, the brilliant silent film comedienne who starred alongside Charlie Chaplin, gave the name its most glamorous association — and her tragic personal story (scandal, addiction, early death) gave it a shadow of romantic melancholy as well. The spelling Maybel, with its visible 'May' at the front, links the name visually to springtime and the month itself, adding a seasonal warmth to what was already a gentle name.
After decades of being considered terminally old-fashioned, the Mabel family is in full revival, propelled by the same forces reclaiming Hazel, Edith, and Agnes. Maybel's less common spelling gives it an extra degree of distinction — the sense of a name discovered in a family Bible rather than a trending list.