Elspeth
Feminine · “Hebrew "my God is an oath”
Walter Scott repopulated the English name stock almost single-handedly. Elspeth, Effie, Jeanie, Rowena, Wilfred, Quentin, Roland and Ronald all owe their nineteenth-century revival to his novels, which were the most widely read books in the English-speaking world for fifty years.
How old is the name Elspeth?
Elspeth first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Elspeth alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 800 people named Elspeth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elspeth most popular?
Elspeth peaked in 1984, reaching #2421 nationally. Today it ranks #7491, 5,070 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Elspeth
The story of Elspeth
Scott's influence on naming is measurable. He published Waverley in 1814 and twenty-odd novels after it, and they carried Scottish and medieval names into general use across Britain and America: Rowena was revived from an obscure chronicle by Ivanhoe in 1819; Quentin Durward in 1823 put that name back into circulation; Elspeth, Jeanie Deans, Effie, Meg Merrilies and Diana Vernon spread the Scots forms. No other novelist has had a comparable effect on the name stock in English, and the modern equivalent — a television character producing a spike — is the same mechanism at a smaller scale. Elspeth's American figures peak in 1984, in a later Scottish revival.
Meaning
Hebrew "my God is an oath"
Elspeth is the Scots form of Elizabeth, from Elisheva. The Scots development moved the b of Elizabeth in front of the vowel and hardened it to p, giving Elspet and then Elspeth — a regular enough change in Scots, which also gives Elspie and Elsie. Scots is a distinct Germanic language closely related to English, not a dialect of it, and its name forms are systematic rather than casual.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Elizabeth
- Elspet
- Elspeth
Related forms: Elspet · Elizabeth · Ealasaid
Pronouncing Elspeth
EL-spith
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced. It is not el-SPETH; the weight stays at the front, and the final th is the unvoiced one of thin.
Nicknames for Elspeth
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
- 198439 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2421reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- −26.3%14 in 2025, from 19
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.
Elspeth in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elspet in Scots — spelling variant
- Elizabeth in English — related form
- Ealasaid in Scottish Gaelic — same name
Elspeths among us
people named Elspeth are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 114,805 born in 2025 was named Elspeth
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Ellisa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elspeth's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ellisa climbed just as high around 1963, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ellisa's path sketches the road Elspeth is walking now.
Elspeth 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
Elspeth beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elspeth in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It descends from one of the best-documented names in Europe.
- Elsie is an immediate and charming short form.
- It is distinctively Scottish without being difficult to say.
- It is rare in America and will need spelling out every time.
- People assume the stress falls on the second syllable.
- It is easily confused with Elsbeth and Elizabeth in writing.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Elspeth
Feminine · #7491 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elspeths are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Elspeth are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elspeth in 2025?
- Elspeth ranks #7491 among US girl names in 2025, with 14 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elspeth?
- About 1 in every 114,805 US girls born in 2025 was named Elspeth — 14 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elspeth with classmates?
- Elspeth will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elspeth
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Christie#7491 · Carmelita#7491 · Jetta#7491 · Hildegard#7491 · Rickie#7491 · Billy#7491 · Angelyn#7491 · Jewell#7491
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elspeth? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elspeth and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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