Elisha

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Boy · Hebrew

Elisha

Say it: ih-LY-shuh

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Hebrew Elisha, 'God is salvation'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Common in colonial and 19th-century America; today also used for girls in English.

Its wave through time

A revival, back after decades away

In the United States

020406018801900192019401960198020002020Girls 1980Boys 1883per 100,000 babies of that sex
  • 28,163 babies given this name since 1880
  • At its height in 1980, about 1 in 15,900 boys
  • 357 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
  2. The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
  3. The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
  4. Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914

Used by

HebrewEarly ChristianEnglishAmericanSpanish

The family of the name

FrenchÉlisée
SpanishEliseo
ItalianEliseo
PortugueseEliseu
GermanElisa
PolishElizeusz
RussianYelisey
HebrewElisha

Famous bearers

  • Elisha, prophet and successor of Elijah
  • Elisha Otis, American inventor of the safety elevator

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
  • Puritan church and town records of England and New England
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
  • Colonial records of the Americas
  • National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
  • United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.