Fun Facts About the Name Fable
- 346 babies named Fable: U.S. records list 346 babies given the name Fable from 1880 through 2025. Even 35 boys received the name Fable - about 1 boy for every 9 girls.
What Does the Name Fable Mean?
Fable is an English word name meaning 'story' or 'tale.' Its immediate source is the English noun fable, which came into Middle English from Old French fable and ultimately from Latin fabula, meaning 'a narrative, story, tale, play.' Latin fabula is related to fari, 'to speak, say,' so the oldest underlying sense is something spoken or told.
The usual modern sense of fable is a short story, often with animal characters, that teaches a moral. English also uses fable for a false or invented story, but the given name is generally understood in the 'story' or 'tale' sense. The name uses the English word directly rather than translating a separate ancient personal name.
Fable Name History & Origins
The noun fable entered English through Old French fable, from Latin fabula. In Middle and early modern English it could mean any narrative or tale, and it also carried the sense of a falsehood or invented story. The narrower literary sense - a brief moral tale, especially one linked with Aesop - became familiar through the wide circulation of Aesop's fables in Greek and Latin traditions.
As a personal name, Fable belongs to the English word-name pattern, in which a common noun is adopted directly as a given name. Its use is chiefly in English-speaking countries, and its meaning as a name depends on the English noun rather than on an inherited Greek, Hebrew, or Germanic name tradition.
How Popular is the Name Fable?
Fable has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2025. Its best rank was #3,177 in 2025.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #3,177 | 50 | 0.0031% |
| 2024 | #3,708 | 41 | 0.0025% |
| 2023 | #4,911 | 27 | 0.0017% |
| 2022 | #5,514 | 23 | 0.0014% |
| 2021 | #6,020 | 20 | 0.0012% |
| 2020 | #6,424 | 18 | 0.0011% |
| 2019 | #9,320 | 11 | 0.0007% |
| 2018 | #8,288 | 13 | 0.0008% |
| 2017 | #8,960 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2016 | #8,551 | 13 | 0.0007% |
| 2015 | #7,391 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2014 | #6,801 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 2013 | #9,806 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2012 | #7,955 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2011 | #12,545 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 2010 | #11,575 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2008 | #16,046 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #6,574 | 13 | 0.0008% |
| 2023 | #12,809 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2021 | #10,045 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2020 | #12,644 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 2012 | #12,859 | 5 | 0.0003% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Fable Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You are kind, home-loving, hospitable and friendly. Since you take responsibility well, you are a good organizer of social affairs. Compassion for others is an outstanding trait. You are a great lover and a great flirt – an artist, musician, actor, teacher, nurse. Your character can be contradictory. You are practical, yet idealistic and intuitive; capable of selfless devotion to someone you love, yet look to receive payback. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Fable's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Fable's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.