Else
Feminine · “God is my oath”
Else is the German and Scandinavian short form of Elisabeth, said in two syllables, EL-zeh. It belonged to one of the great German poets of the twentieth century, Else Lasker-Schüler, who won the Kleist Prize and ended her life in Jerusalem after the Nazi years drove her out of Berlin.
How old is the name Else?
Else first appears in US birth records in 1884 — 141 years ago. The typical Else alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 200 people named Else are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Else most popular?
Else peaked in 1892, reaching #908 nationally. See the whole 1892 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Else
The story of Else
Else Lasker-Schüler was born in Elberfeld, in the Rhineland, in 1869, and became a central voice of German Expressionist poetry; her Hebrew Ballads appeared in 1913. In 1932 she won the Kleist Prize, one of the most respected literary awards of the Weimar years. Within months of the Nazi seizure of power she left for Switzerland, and from 1939 she lived in Jerusalem, where she died in 1945 and is buried on the Mount of Olives. The name she carried is spelled like an English word and said like a German one: two syllables, with the final e sounded.
Meaning
God is my oath, through Elisabeth
Else is a short form of Elisabeth, from the Hebrew Elisheva, usually read as my God is an oath. German, Danish and Norwegian all use it as a name in its own right.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Elisabeth
- Else
Related forms: Ilse · Elsa · Elsebeth · Elsie
Pronouncing Else
EL-zeh
German says a z sound for the s and a light second syllable; Danish and Norwegian keep an s sound, EL-seh. English readers will see the one-syllable word else unless they are told.
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
- 1884
- Most girls named
- 193514 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #908reached in 1892
- Change vs 2019
- 0.0%5 in 2020, from 5
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.
Else in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ilse in German — related form
- Elsa in Swedish — related form
- Elsebeth in Danish — related form
- Elsie in English — related form
Elses among us
people named Else are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Else sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Short, four letters, and a direct link to Elisabeth for a family honoring that name.
- A poet of real stature carried it, and her work is still in print in German and in translation.
- Used in German, Danish and Norwegian, so it travels in northern Europe without explanation.
- In English it is the everyday word else, and phrases like or else will follow it for a while.
- The two-syllable pronunciation will need teaching, and some people will settle on Elsa or Elsie instead. It settles quickly once people have heard it said.
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What they receive
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Else
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Elses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 200 people named Else are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Else in 2025?
- Else is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Else with classmates?
- Else will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More E names
The most-given names starting with E, all years combined.
Elizabeth#17 · Emily#34 · Emma#3 · Evelyn#8 · Ella#29 · Eleanor#12 · Erin#833 · Edna#2458
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Else? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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