Elsie
Masculine · “My God is an oath”
Elsie is given to girls far more often — 190,072 girls against 886 boys since 1880. See Elsie as a girl name
Elsie is a short form that has been a full name for two centuries, and in America it has been attached to two remarkable things: a cartoon cow that became one of the most recognized trademarks in the country, and a set of photographs that fooled the creator of Sherlock Holmes.
How old is the name Elsie?
Elsie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elsie alive today was born around 1921, making them about 104 years old. Fewer than a hundred people named Elsie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
When was the name Elsie most popular?
Elsie peaked in 1902, reaching #583 nationally. See the whole 1902 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Elizabeth to Elsie
The story of Elsie
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. Two girls in a Yorkshire village, one of them called Elsie, took pictures of themselves with paper fairies fixed to hatpins, and the images convinced a number of adults including Arthur Conan Doyle, who wrote a book arguing they were genuine. The girls admitted the hoax sixty years later, and one of them maintained to the end that the last photograph was real.
Meaningscholars disagree
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.
How the name formed
- Elizabeth
- Elspeth
- Elsie
Related forms: Elsie · Elspeth
Pronouncing Elsie
EL-see
Two syllables, stress at the front. The s is said as a soft s rather than a z, unlike in Elsa.
Nicknames for Elsie
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 192736 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #583reached in 1902
- Change vs 1952
- 0.0%5 in 1959, 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.
Elsie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elsie in German — same name
- Elspeth in Scottish — related form
Elsies among us
Fewer than a hundred people named Elsie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Elsie 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
- 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.
- 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.
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What they receive
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Elsie
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Elsies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. Fewer than a hundred people named Elsie are estimated to be alive in the US today — a true one-of-a-kind name.
- How popular is the name Elsie in 2025?
- Elsie is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Elsie with classmates?
- Elsie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More E names
The most-given names starting with E, all years combined.
Edward#224 · Eric#273 · Ethan#24 · Eugene#943 · Elijah#7 · Ernest#1038 · Earl#2230 · Evan#153
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elsie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elsie and another name?
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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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