Isabel dos Santos (; born 20 April 1973) is an
Angolan businesswoman, the eldest child of Angola's former President
José Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was the president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for the ...
, who ruled the country as a dictator from 1979 to 2017.
Once considered Africa's richest woman according to ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine, with a net worth exceeding US$2 billion, she was dropped from the magazine's list in January 2021 after the freezing of her assets in Angola, Portugal and the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
.
[ She owes $340 million to the Portuguese company PT Ventures.]
In 2013 ''Forbes'' described how dos Santos acquired her wealth by taking stakes in companies doing business in Angola, suggesting that her wealth came almost entirely from her family's power and connections.
Since 2018, the Angolan government has been trying to prosecute Isabel dos Santos for corruption that may have led to Angola's ongoing recession. On 30 December 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court ordered to freeze dos Santos's Angolan bank accounts and to seize her stake in local companies, including Unitel (Angola)
Unitel S.A. is a private Angolan mobile phone company which was established on 8 March 2001 as a joint-stock company. The company is owned by the Angolan state, having been nationalised in 2022. Operations and location
The seat of the company is ...
and Banco de Fomento Angola. Two weeks later, the Angolan Government announced it prepared the legal battle to confiscate dos Santos's assets in Portugal, a process that in operation in the form of letters rogatory {{Short description, Formal request by a court to a foreign court for judicial assistance
Letters rogatory or letters of request are a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some type of judicial assistance. The most common remedies soug ...
sent to Portugal to stop the transfer of funds from Portuguese Commercial Bank
Portuguese Commercial Bank ( pt, Banco Comercial Português, BCP) is a Portuguese bank that was founded in 1985 and is the largest private bank in the country. BCP is a member of the Euronext 100 stock index and its current chief executive officer ...
to a Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
bank. As of January 2020, she was under investigation in Portugal and has since assumed the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
as her official country of residence. In December 2021, the US State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
barred Dos Santos and her immediate family from entering the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, citing "significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit". On 18 November 2022, Interpol issued a warrant for her arrest.
Family and education
Isabel dos Santos was born in Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
, Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic
Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...
,[ISABEL DOS SANTOS – SEGREDOS E PODER DO DINHEIRO](_blank)
. Filipe S. Fernandes. Documentation (Portuguese) the eldest daughter of Angola's longtime President José Eduardo dos Santos
José Eduardo dos Santos (; 28 August 1942 – 8 July 2022) was the president of Angola from 1979 to 2017. As president, dos Santos was also the commander-in-chief of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) and president of the People's Movement for the ...
(1942–2022) and his first wife, the Russian-born Tatiana Kukanova, whom he met while studying in the then Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. Her father's parents came from São Tomé and Príncipe
São Tomé and Príncipe (; pt, São Tomé e Príncipe (); English: " Saint Thomas and Prince"), officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe ( pt, República Democrática de São Tomé e Príncipe), is a Portuguese-speaking i ...
.[Biography at MPLA website]
She attended an all girls boarding school in Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, Cobham Hall School
Cobham Hall School is an independent day and boarding school for girls in the English parish of Cobham, Kent. It is a Round Square school and a member of the Girls' Schools Association. The school is housed in Cobham Hall, a Tudor era Grade I l ...
, and St Paul's Girls' School
St Paul's Girls' School is an independent day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in West London, England.
History
St Paul's Girls' School was founded by the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1904, using part o ...
in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. She studied electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
at King's College in London. There she met her husband from Zaire
Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...
(now Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
), Sindika Dokolo
Sindika Dokolo (16 March 1972 – 29 October 2020) was a Congolese businessman and art collector. Since 2002 he had been married to Isabel dos Santos, the eldest daughter of José Eduardo dos Santos, then President of Angola. As of January 2020, ...
, a son of a millionaire from Kinshasa
Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...
and his Danish
Danish may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark
People
* A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark
* Culture of Denmark
* Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
wife. In October 2020, her husband, Sindika Dokolo, died in a diving accident in Dubai at the age of 48.
Isabel dos Santos is a citizen of both Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
and Angola.
Career
In the early 90s, dos Santos started working as a project manager engineer for Urbana 2000, a subsidiary of Jembas Group, that had won a contract to clean and disinfect Luanda
Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
. Thereafter, she set up a trucking business. The widespread use of walkie-talkie technology paved the way for a subsequent foray into telecoms. In 1997, she started her first business, opening the Miami Beach Club, one of the first night clubs and beach restaurants on Luanda Island
Ilha do Cabo ( en, Cape Island) typically known as Ilha de Luanda ( en, Island of Luanda) is a Spit (landform), spit off the shore of Luanda, the capital of Angola, a country on the continents' southwestern coast. It consists of a low sandy strip ...
. In 1997, dos Santos entered the international business world, creating companies and holdings in Angola but mostly abroad, making substantial investments in high-profile enterprises, especially in Portugal.
As of 2014, holdings of dos Santos included:
* Trans Africa Investment Services, a Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
-based vehicle founded together with her mother for the diamond business
* Unitel International Holdings B.V.: change of name of Kento and Jadeium, based in Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
, company vehicle for dos Santos' investment in telecommunications
* Santoro Finance: company vehicle for dos Santos' investment in Banco BPI based in Lisbon
Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...
* Esperaza Holding B.V.: based in Amsterdam, energy and oil
* Condis: a retail business based in Luanda
Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
In June 2016, her father appointed her as chair of Sonangol
Group Sonangol ( pt, Grupo Sonangol) is a parastatal that formerly oversaw petroleum and natural gas production in Angola. The group consisted of Sonangol E.P. ( pt, Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, E.P.) and its many subsidiaries. ...
, the Angolan state oil company. In November 2017, João Lourenço
João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço (born 5 March 1954) is an Angolan politician, who has served as the president of Angola since 26 September 2017. Previously, he was Minister of Defence from 2014 to 2017. In September 2018, he became the Cha ...
, the new Angolan President, fired her just two months after being sworn into office in the wake of similar appointments of children of the president to key posts.
On 30 December 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court ordered the preventive seizure of the personal bank accounts of dos Santos, her husband, Sindika Dokolo, and Mário Filipe Moreira Leite da Silva. According to the Attorney General's office, the three businesspeople entered into deals with the Angolan state through the companies Sodiam, a public diamond sales company, and Sonangol, the state oil company. With these deals, the Angolan state suffered a loss of $1.14 billion. The court produced a document showing that the assets and many others owned by dos Santos had been acquired using funds from two state-owned companies. In January 2020, the Portuguese Attorney-General's Office opened an investigation into a number of her operations after Ana Gomes
Ana Maria Rosa Martins Gomes (born 9 February 1954), better known as Ana Gomes, is a Portuguese former diplomat and politician of the Socialist Party (PS).
She earned wide recognition for her role in negotiating independence for East Timor, a ...
, a Portuguese Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
laid charges against her. Following the seizure, she assumed the UAE
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
as her official country of residence.
In January 2021, Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
removed her from the list of the richest people in Africa, since her assets in Angola and Portugal had been frozen.
Investments in Portugal
Since 2008 dos Santos has had interests in key Portuguese sectors, such as telecommunications, media, retail, finance and the energy. In 2012 dos Santos made a series of acquisitions in ZON Multimédia
NOS, SGPS S.A. is a Portuguese telecommunications and media company who provides mobile and fixed telephony, cable television, satellite television and internet. The company resulted from the merger in 2013 of two of the country's major telecom ...
, a telecommunications and media company providing mobile and fixed telephony, cable television, satellite television and internet. From an initial small stake in the company, she became the biggest shareholder, with 28.8% in 2012. The acquisitions were made via holding companies Jadeium and Kento, later Netherlands-based Unitel International Holdings BV.
In 2010, she bought a 20% stake at Banco Português de Investimento
Banco Português de Investimento (BPI, ) is a major privately owned bank in Portugal owned by Spanish bank CaixaBank. It runs the banking business with companies, institutional and private clients. As ''Sociedade Portuguesa de Investimentos'' it ...
through Santoro Holding . She has other major stakes with the Angolan state oil company Sonangol
Group Sonangol ( pt, Grupo Sonangol) is a parastatal that formerly oversaw petroleum and natural gas production in Angola. The group consisted of Sonangol E.P. ( pt, Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, E.P.) and its many subsidiaries. ...
through their mutual European
European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to:
In general
* ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe
** Ethnic groups in Europe
** Demographics of Europe
** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...
Law holding, based in the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, named Esperanza Holding, in Portuguese Galp Energia
Galp Energia, SGPS, S.A. is a Portuguese multinational energy corporation, headquartered in Lisbon, Portugal. Galp consists of more than 100 companies engaged in every aspect of the oil and natural gas supply, hydrocarbon exploration and product ...
. Dos Santos is a founding member and board member of Banco BIC Português, which recently acquired Banco Português de Negócios Banco Português de Negócios (English: Portuguese Bank of Business), or simply BPN, was a Portuguese banking institution. It used to be a private bank, but was nationalized by the Portuguese Government in 2008 after a bad management and malpractice ...
, a nationalized bank.
In December 2012, dos Santos announced the invitation for a merger of ZON with Sonaecom, approved in March 2013 by the General Assembly. Since her investments in Portugal were in listed companies they were subject to official supervision of the Portuguese Securities Market Commission
The Portuguese Securities Market Commission, also known by its initials as "CMVM", was incepted via Decree-Law No. 142-A/91, of 10 April, and established on 10 May 1991 following 30 days after its publication. It supervises and regulates securities ...
(Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários, CMVM, in Portuguese).
On 27 August 2013, after the green light from the Competition Authority, the merger of the two companies was formalized with the transfer to ZOPT, a special purpose vehicle created to advance the operation, which became the owner of more 50% of the capital of the new group, the shares that dos Santos and Sonaecom hold on Zon and Optimus respectively. There was a capital increase of ZOPT through contribution in kind from 50 to 716 million euros, while Sonaecom subscribed 358 million shares of the company, by delivering 81.8% of its stake in Optimus. The Angolan businesswoman, on her turn, subscribed exactly the same number of shares of ZOPT, through her holdings Kento and Unitel International, delivering 28.8% of the stake in ZON. With this transfer of shareholdings in Optimus and Zon, Sonaecom and dos Santos became holders of over 50% stake in the merged company: Zon Optimus SGPS. On this occasion, a new strategy for the company was announced by dos Santos, with a multimarket vision. On 1 October 2013, dos Santos attended the first General Assembly of Zon Optimus.
In November 2014, dos Santos launched a takeover bid for Portugal Telecom
Altice Portugal (formerly known as Portugal Telecom or PT) is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Since June 2, 2015, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Altice Europe, a multinational cable and telecommuni ...
, SGPS, S.A., valuing the firm's shares at €1.35 a share, in what was seen as a rival bid to a previous €7 billion offer from Altice, though the offer made by Altice was on PT Portugal, not on PT SGPS. On 1 December 2014, she formally registered her offer at the Portuguese Securities Market Commission
The Portuguese Securities Market Commission, also known by its initials as "CMVM", was incepted via Decree-Law No. 142-A/91, of 10 April, and established on 10 May 1991 following 30 days after its publication. It supervises and regulates securities ...
.
In January 2017 Unitel, led by dos Santos, purchased 2% of Banco Fomento de Angola (BFA) from BPI for 28 million euros and controlled 51.9% of the bank's capital. In December 2016 the National Bank of Angola
The National Bank of Angola ( pt, Banco Nacional de Angola, links=) is the central bank of Angola. It is state-owned and the Government of Angola is the sole shareholder. The bank is based in Luanda, and was created in 1926, but traces its ances ...
(BNA), the sector regulator, had approved this operation. In February 2017 dos Santos sold her position in Banco BPI, following the takeover bid launched by CaixaBank
CaixaBank, S.A. (), formerly Criteria CaixaCorp, is a Spanish multinational financial services company. CaixaBank is based in Valencia, with operative offices in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. It is Spain's third-largest lender by market value, aft ...
. From her ownership from 2009 to 2017 she won more than 80 million euros in capital gain, not only from the sale of the 18.5% holding on BPI, but also from the dividends from 2008 and 2009, worth around 12.6 million euros.
Investments in Angola
In April 2011, dos Santos with 51% control of Condis, signed a joint partnership with the Portuguese Sonae
Sonae is a multinational business group based in Maia, Porto District, Portugal. It is present in 90 countries, operating in several sectors, including retail, financial services, shopping centres management, software and information systems, me ...
group for the development and operation of a retail trading company in Angola. The entry in Angola by the Portuguese group led by Paulo de Azevedo
Duarte Paulo Teixeira de Azevedo (Porto, 31 December 1965), is since 2000 CEO, chairman of Sonaecom, son and successor of the founder of the business empire Sonae, Belmiro de Azevedo, former chairman of the Board of Directors of the company. Paulo ...
was to be performed by the Continente (Angola), which planned to open the first supermarket by 2013 in Angola.
She created Unitel (Angola)
Unitel S.A. is a private Angolan mobile phone company which was established on 8 March 2001 as a joint-stock company. The company is owned by the Angolan state, having been nationalised in 2022. Operations and location
The seat of the company is ...
in partnership with Portugal Telecom, after a tender process she considered fair. As of 2013, she had acquired the mobile operator T+ in Cape Verde
, national_anthem = ()
, official_languages = Portuguese
, national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole
, capital = Praia
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, demonym ...
also through Unitel International Holding, a platform for Unitel investments where Portugal telecom
Altice Portugal (formerly known as Portugal Telecom or PT) is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Since June 2, 2015, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Altice Europe, a multinational cable and telecommuni ...
has no presence, and gained the license to establish the second telecom operator in São Tomé and Príncipe. In May 2013, dos Santos announced during a visit to São Tomé and Príncipe that Unitel would invest in education in the country to train engineers, managers and other technicians and also focus on job creation.
By 2015, dos Santos owned a share of satellite-TV operator ZAP, which had in December 2013 acquired the rights to distribute ''Forbes'' in a number of Portuguese-speaking countries, namely Portugal, Angola, and Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
. It had been announced that most of the content would be produced by a local team, complemented by content for the North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
edition, therefore potentially allowing influence on ''Forbes'' content. It was initially planned that the first edition of the Portuguese language ''Forbes'' would be published during the second quarter of 2014.
In October 2022, Angolan President President João Lourenço
João Manuel Gonçalves Lourenço (born 5 March 1954) is an Angolan politician, who has served as the president of Angola since 26 September 2017. Previously, he was Minister of Defence from 2014 to 2017. In September 2018, he became the Cha ...
issued a decision to nationalise the Angolan operator Unitel, ending her links with the operator.
Prosecution, 2018-present
Since 2018, the Angolan government has been trying to prosecute Isabel dos Santos for corruption which may have led to Angola's recession. On 30 December 2019, the Luanda Provincial Court ordered to freeze dos Santos's Angolan bank accounts and to seize her stake in local companies, including Unitel (Angola)
Unitel S.A. is a private Angolan mobile phone company which was established on 8 March 2001 as a joint-stock company. The company is owned by the Angolan state, having been nationalised in 2022. Operations and location
The seat of the company is ...
and Banco de Fomento Angola./ In January 2019, the Angolan Government announced it prepared the legal battle to confiscate dos Santos's assets in Portugal,/ and set letters rogatory {{Short description, Formal request by a court to a foreign court for judicial assistance
Letters rogatory or letters of request are a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some type of judicial assistance. The most common remedies soug ...
to Portugal to stop the transfer of funds from Portuguese Commercial Bank
Portuguese Commercial Bank ( pt, Banco Comercial Português, BCP) is a Portuguese bank that was founded in 1985 and is the largest private bank in the country. BCP is a member of the Euronext 100 stock index and its current chief executive officer ...
to a Russian bank. As of January 2020, she was under investigation in Portugal and has since assumed the United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
as her official country of residence. In December 2021, the US State Department
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
barred Dos Santos and her immediate family from entering the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, citing "significant corruption by misappropriating public funds for her personal benefit". On 18 November 2022, Interpol issued a warrant for her arrest.
''Luanda Leaks'', 2020
On 19 January 2020 the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C. with pe ...
(ICIJ) published a detailed report on how dos Santos amassed her wealth over the years. The report, based on information provided by corruption watchdog The Platform to Protect Whistleblowers in Africa – which it called ''Luanda Leaks'' – said she "made a fortune at the expense of the Angolan people".
The night of 22 January, three days after the leaks, her personal wealth manager and private banking director Nuno Ribeiro da Cunha was found dead in the garage of his house.
Recognition
She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2015.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Isabel dos
1973 births
Living people
Angolan businesspeople
People from Baku
Children of national leaders
People educated at Cobham Hall School
People educated at St Paul's Girls' School
Alumni of King's College London
Female billionaires
Angolan Roman Catholics
20th-century Roman Catholics
21st-century Roman Catholics
Angolan people of São Tomé and Príncipe descent
Angolan people of Russian descent
Angolan billionaires
Angolan expatriates in Portugal
Angolan expatriates in the United Arab Emirates
21st-century Angolan people
20th-century Angolan people
21st-century businesswomen
Isabel
Isabel is a female name of Spanish origin. Isabelle is a name that is similar, but it is of French origin. It originates as the medieval Spanish form of '' Elisabeth'' (ultimately Hebrew ''Elisheva''), Arising in the 12th century, it became popul ...
BBC 100 Women