Head to head · Girls' names
Eliza vs Elsie
#115 vs #123 in 2025
Eliza is a whisker ahead (#115 vs #123 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Eliza is holding its place on the charts, Elsie is back after a long quiet spell. On momentum, Elsie has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Eliza leads 3 measures of 6; Elsie leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Eliza #102, Elsie #59 — Elsie higher
- 1890s: Eliza #155, Elsie #35 — Elsie higher
- 1900s: Eliza #203, Elsie #39 — Elsie higher
- 1910s: Eliza #291, Elsie #45 — Elsie higher
- 1920s: Eliza #377, Elsie #64 — Elsie higher
- 1930s: Eliza #493, Elsie #112 — Elsie higher
- 1940s: Eliza #660, Elsie #205 — Elsie higher
- 1950s: Eliza #957, Elsie #383 — Elsie higher
- 1960s: Eliza #1068, Elsie #633 — Elsie higher
- 1970s: Eliza #831, Elsie #1001 — Eliza higher
- 1980s: Eliza #659, Elsie #1191 — Eliza higher
- 1990s: Eliza #527, Elsie #1212 — Eliza higher
- 2000s: Eliza #333, Elsie #1010 — Eliza higher
- 2010s: Eliza #187, Elsie #376 — Eliza higher
- 2020s: Eliza #116, Elsie #181 — Eliza higher
Elsie stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Eliza has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Eliza | Elsie |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #102 | #59 |
| 1890s | #155 | #35 |
| 1900s | #203 | #39 |
| 1910s | #291 | #45 |
| 1920s | #377 | #64 |
| 1930s | #493 | #112 |
| 1940s | #660 | #205 |
| 1950s | #957 | #383 |
| 1960s | #1068 | #633 |
| 1970s | #831 | #1001 |
| 1980s | #659 | #1191 |
| 1990s | #527 | #1212 |
| 2000s | #333 | #1010 |
| 2010s | #187 | #376 |
| 2020s | #116 | #181 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Eliza
- England & Wales#63
Elsie
- England & Wales#10
- Scotland#21
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Eliza
my God is an oath — Eliza is a short form of Elizabeth
The root is Hebrew Elisheva. A second reading of the same elements gives "God is abundance", from the sense of fullness or satisfaction; the oath reading is the one usually given.
Elisheva → Elisabet → Elizabeth → Eliza
How it traveled
Elisheva belongs to the Hebrew Bible, where she is the wife of Aaron; the Greek translators rendered her name Elisabet, and through Latin it reached medieval Europe as Elizabeth. English speakers began clipping it early and often, and Eliza was one of the clippings that stuck, standing alone on parish records from the seventeenth century onward and flourishing in the eighteenth and nineteenth.
Elsie
My God is an oath
The name descends from Elizabeth, whose Hebrew original joins the name of God to a word about oaths or abundance — the second half has been argued over for a long time. Some bearers come instead from Alice or from Elspeth, the Scottish form, and the short form does not distinguish them.
Elizabeth → Elspeth → Elsie
How it traveled
The cow came out of a dairy advertising campaign and outgrew it completely, appearing at a world's fair, in films, and on packaging for the better part of a century — at one point more Americans could identify her than could name their own senators. The photographs are stranger.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Eliza
ee-LY-zuh
Stress on the middle syllable, which rhymes with "eye". In Polish and Hungarian the same spelling is said eh-LEE-zah, so a family with roots in either may use that reading.
- Liza — The oldest and most common short form; also used as a full given name on its own.
- Lizzie — Informal and long-established, shared with Elizabeth; used as a standalone name too.
- Ellie — Informal, drawn from the first syllable; widely independent as a given name among younger generations.
- Liz — Brisk and informal, more often reached for in adulthood than childhood.
- Also Elle.
Elsie
EL-see
Two syllables, stress at the front. The s is said as a soft s rather than a z, unlike in Elsa.
- Els — The name without its ending, brisk and current.
- Elle — The front alone, and a complete name in French.
One short form, two names
- Eliza and Elsie both shorten to Elle.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Who has carried each name
Eliza
Eliza Dushku (b. 1980) — Buffy's Faith
Eliza Acton (b. 1799) — Poet who wrote the first modern cookbook
Elsie
No documented entry for Elsie yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Eliza if you want…
- a name holding steadyEliza is holding its place on the charts
- a name with more sound in itEliza runs 3 syllables, Elsie 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Liza, Lizzie and Ellie
Choose Elsie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 110 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesElsie is 2 syllables to Eliza's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooElsie is on the national lists of England & Wales and Scotland
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Eliza
Strengths
- A spelling nearly everyone can write down on first hearing, with no silent letters and no variant to correct.
- Several long-established short forms — Liza, Lizzie, Ellie, Liz — so there is room to grow without changing names.
- In continuous use in English for some four centuries, which puts it outside the reach of any single fashion.
To consider
- It sits in a crowded family — Elisa, Elise, Eloise, Elsie and Elizabeth all live nearby, and Eliza gets misheard as one of them often enough to be worth expecting.
- Because it started as a short form, some people will assume the full name is Elizabeth and ask, or quietly write it that way on forms.
- ELIZA was also the name of an early MIT chatbot, a piece of trivia that surfaces occasionally in tech conversation and nowhere else.
Elsie
Strengths
- It is short, warm and easy for a small child to say about herself.
- It has a formal name of great standing behind it.
- It is coming back into use after a long absence, which suits a name of this age.
To consider
- The dairy mascot is still the first association for many Americans.
- Elsie, Elsy and Ellsie are all recorded and hers will be written as one of them.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Eliza and Elsie in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Eliza and Elsie?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- The sweet spot: familiar but not everywhere
- all guides
Every list here names both Eliza and Elsie — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Eliza or Elsie — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Eliza or Elsie?
- Eliza, in 2025: Eliza ranked #115 with 2,370 babies; Elsie ranked #123 with 2,236 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Eliza or Elsie?
- Elsie. Over the last five years Eliza is holding its place on the charts; Elsie moved up 110 places.
- Which is the older name, Eliza or Elsie?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Eliza and Elsie?
- About 53,500 people named Eliza are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 46,500 people named Elsie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Eliza and Elsie share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Elle, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Eliza, Elsie and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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