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Girl · Old High German / Frankish
Gisela
Say it: GEE-zeh-lah
Meaning
From Germanic gisil, of uncertain sense: 'pledge, hostage' and 'offshoot' have both been proposed.
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Borne by Carolingian princesses, it had a strong revival in German-speaking countries in the mid-20th century.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 1990s
In the United States
- 4,070 babies given this name since 1915
- At its height in 1995, about 1 in 11,000 girls
- 38 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Gisele
| French | Gisèle |
|---|---|
| Italian | Gisella |
| Hungarian | Gizella |
| Spanish | Gisela |
| Latin | Gisla |
Famous bearers
- Gisela of Hungary, Bavarian princess and first queen of Hungary
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- National birth statistics of European countries 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.