Gisèle

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Girl · Germanic

Gisèle

Say it: zhee-ZEL

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Germanic gisil, probably 'pledge' or 'hostage'.

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

A Frankish royal name, fashionable again in France in the 1920s–50s and rare now.

Its wave through time

Most used in the 2000s

In the United States

05101518801900192019401960198020002020Peak 2009per 100,000 babies of that sex
  • 5,077 babies given this name since 1923
  • At its height in 2009, about 1 in 7,800 girls
  • 78 babies in 2020

Through the ages

  1. The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
  2. The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

French

The family of the name

Other spellings: Giselle

GermanGisela
EnglishGiselle
DutchGisela

Famous bearers

  • Gisela, daughter of Charlemagne's son Louis
  • Gisèle Halimi, lawyer

Names worth a look

Where this comes from

  • Royal and noble genealogies
  • 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.