The origin of the word is unclear; the uncertainty prompted by this has generated several attempts to provide an etymology and led to one prominent legend.

The first recorded use of isabella as the name of a colour in English was in the year 1600,[2] to describe an item in Elizabeth I of England's wardrobe inventory: "one rounde gowne of Isabella-colour satten ... set with silver spangles".

[3] Isabelline as a derivative term was first used in the journal Ibis in 1859 by Henry Baker Tristram[4] to describe the common colour of the upper plumage in the birds of Northern Africa.

Since the siege lasted over three years, finally ending in September 1604, it is claimed that the discolouration of her shift in that interval led to the naming of the colour.

[2] A variation refers to a similar story involving the Spanish queen Isabella I of Castile and the eight-month siege of Granada by Ferdinand II of Aragon starting in April 1491.