Girl · Hebrew, through German
Elsa
Say it: EL-zah
Meaning
Short form of Elisabeth, from Hebrew Elisheva.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A German and Scandinavian short form, made fashionable by Lohengrin in the 19th century.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 29,435 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1895, about 1 in 1,500 girls
- 280 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Else
| English | Elsie |
|---|---|
| German | Ilse |
Famous bearers
- Elsa Beskow, Swedish children's author
- Elsa Schiaparelli, fashion designer
- Elsa, heroine of Wagner's Lohengrin
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Calendars of saints and name days
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- Well-known works of literature
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- 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.