Elisha
Feminine · “God is salvation”
Elisha is given to both — 14,366 girls and 15,668 boys since 1880. See Elisha as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Elisha is a Hebrew sentence about rescue, and in the Bible it belongs to a prophet — a man. Its American use for daughters is recent and comes from the sound rather than the source: it sits very close to Alicia and Elisa.
How old is the name Elisha?
Elisha first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Elisha alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 14,000 people named Elisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elisha most popular?
Elisha peaked in 1980, reaching #373 nationally. Today it ranks #2859, 2,486 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Elisha to Elisha
The story of Elisha
Elisha is Elijah's successor in the books of Kings, and the story of the handover — the mantle, the parted river, the double portion — is one of the most vivid transitions in the Hebrew scriptures. English took the name up after the Reformation and used it for sons through the colonial period and beyond. Its recent American use for daughters is a separate development entirely, driven by the resemblance to Alicia, Elisa and Aleisha, and by the -isha ending that appears across a family of modern girls' names.
Meaning
God is salvation
Hebrew Elisha joins El, 'God', to a form of yasha, 'to save, to deliver' — the same verb behind Isaiah, Joshua and Hosea. The reading is documented and undisputed. The name is masculine in Hebrew and in the biblical text; nothing in the word itself marks a sex, which is part of why the crossing happened so easily.
How the name formed
- Elisha
- Eliseus
Related forms: Elisha · Eliseo · Alyasa · Yelisey
Pronouncing Elisha
ih-LY-shuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle and an English long i there. Hebrew says el-ee-SHA, with the stress at the end and a clean ee — a noticeably different name by ear.
Nicknames for Elisha
Moderate
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 1980624 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #373reached in 1980
- Change vs 2023
- −23.4%59 in 2025, from 77
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.
Elisha in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elisha in Hebrew — transliteration
- Eliseo in Spanish — same name
- Alyasa in Arabic — same name
- Yelisey in Russian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, California, Texas.
Elishas among us
people named Elisha are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 27,242 born in 2025 was named Elisha
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Elisha
- #2859
- Elisha on the 2025 chart
- #895
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Elisha went to 59 girls in 2025, but Elysha is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 65, which makes it the 895th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,964 places above the chart.
- Elisha59
- Elysha6
About 1 girl in 24,727 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 27,242 for Elisha 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 Zelda test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elisha's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Zelda climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Zelda's path sketches the road Elisha is walking now.
Elisha 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 Elisha is headed
Elisha should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Elisha beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elisha in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented biblical name with a substantial story attached to it.
- Eli and Lisha are two ready short forms with different registers.
- Three syllables that every English speaker says correctly at first sight.
- In the Bible and in Hebrew it is a man's name, and a daughter will be read as a son on paper.
- Elisha, Alisha, Aleisha and Elesha all circulate and are said much the same way.
- The English and Hebrew pronunciations are quite different, which comes up in Jewish settings.
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What they receive
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Elisha
Feminine · #2859 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elishas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 14,000 people named Elisha are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Elisha?
- Elisha is the most-used spelling in US records — 59 of the 65 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Elysha.
- How popular is the name Elisha in 2025?
- Elisha ranks #2859 among US girl names in 2025, with 59 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elisha?
- About 1 in every 27,242 US girls born in 2025 was named Elisha — 59 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elisha with classmates?
- Elisha will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elisha
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emilly#2859 · Pyper#2859 · Amarie#2859 · Luci#2859 · Issa#2859 · Azaliah#2859 · Malinda#2859 · Kyah#2859
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elisha? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elisha and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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