Elisabeth
Feminine · “My God is an oath”
Elisabeth is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 48,018 girls against 27 boys since 1880.
This is the spelling the Latin Bible used, and the one most of Europe kept: Elisabeth with an s, four syllables that end on a soft breath rather than a hard stop. It has been written this way, unchanged, since the Vulgate — and it is still the ordinary form in German, Dutch, Danish and Swedish today. In American use it sits just off to the side of Elizabeth, familiar to everyone, duplicated by almost no one in a classroom.
How old is the name Elisabeth?
Elisabeth was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elisabeth alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 39,500 people named Elisabeth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elisabeth most popular?
Elisabeth peaked in 2001, reaching #286 nationally. Today it ranks #925, 639 places below that high. See the whole 2001 chart.
Elisabeth appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Elisabeth
The story of Elisabeth
The name begins as Hebrew Elisheva, worn in the Book of Exodus by the wife of Aaron. The Greek translators of the Hebrew scriptures wrote it Elisabet, and the Gospel of Luke gave it to the mother of John the Baptist — which is how the name traveled out of Hebrew and into every Christian language in Europe. Latin fixed the form as Elisabeth, and that s-spelling stayed put in German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages, while English drifted to a z. Both spellings crossed to America with immigrants and both are still here, side by side.
Meaning
My God is an oath
From Hebrew Elisheva. Often rendered more loosely as "God is my oath" or "consecrated to God"; the elements are agreed on — El, God, and shava, oath or swearing.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Elisabet
- Elisabeth
- Elizabeth
- Isabel
Related forms: Elizabeth · Élisabeth · Elisabetta · Erzsébet · Isabel · Yelizaveta
Pronouncing Elisabeth
uh-LIZ-uh-beth
In American English the s is pronounced as a z, exactly as in Elizabeth. German and Dutch speakers say it differently — roughly ay-LEE-za-bet, with the stress earlier and a true s.
Nicknames for Elisabeth
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 20011,093 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #286reached in 2001
- Change vs 2022
- +3.7%282 in 2025, from 272
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Elisabeth in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elizabeth in English — spelling variant
- Élisabeth in French — same name
- Elisabetta in Italian — same name
- Erzsébet in Hungarian — same name
- Isabel in Spanish — related form
- Yelizaveta in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Elisabeths among us
people named Elisabeth are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 5,700 born in 2025 was named Elisabeth
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Elisabeth
- #925
- Elisabeth on the 2025 chart
- #21
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Elisabeth went to 282 girls in 2025, but Elizabeth is the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 7,050, which makes it the 21st most-given girls’ name of the year — 904 places above the chart.
- Elizabeth6,760
- Elisabeth282
and 1 rarer spelling.
About 1 girl in 228 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 5,700 for Elisabeth itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lakeisha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elisabeth's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lakeisha climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lakeisha's path sketches the road Elisabeth is walking now.
Elisabeth sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Elisabeth is headed
Elisabeth should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Elisabeth beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elisabeth in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the deepest nickname benches of any name: Ellie, Beth, Liz, Libby, Elsa, Lisa — a formal name and half a dozen informal ones in a single choice.
- Everyone can pronounce it on sight, even the readers who then spell it with a z.
- The standard spelling across German, Dutch, Danish and Swedish, which makes it travel without translation.
- An unbroken written record from the Greek and Latin scriptures forward — the form itself has not changed in that time.
- You will spell it out loud, for life. Elizabeth is the default American spelling, and forms, teachers and coffee cups will reach for the z unless corrected.
- It shares every short form with Elizabeth, so the distinction that matters to you may simply vanish in daily use once she becomes Ellie or Beth.
- Four syllables is a lot for a first name to carry, especially against a long surname — worth saying the whole thing aloud a few times before deciding.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Elisabeth to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Elisabeth
Feminine · #925 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elisabeths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 39,500 people named Elisabeth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Elisabeth?
- Elisabeth is one of 2 recorded spellings. Elizabeth is the more common one — 6,760 births in 2025 against 282 for Elisabeth.
- How popular is the name Elisabeth in 2025?
- Elisabeth ranks #925 among US girl names in 2025, with 282 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elisabeth?
- About 1 in every 5,700 US girls born in 2025 was named Elisabeth — 282 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elisabeth with classmates?
- Elisabeth will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elisabeth
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ivey#925 · Maddie#925 · Clare#924 · Brittany#928 · Winifred#922 · Emberlynn#928 · Emmeline#922 · Etta#928
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elisabeth? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elisabeth and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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