Elysa
Feminine · “Hebrew "my God is an oath”
The y in Elysa points at a false ancestor. It suggests Elysium, the Greek fields of the blessed — and Elysium has no connection to this name at all. Its own origin is unknown and may be pre-Greek, borrowed from whatever was spoken in the Aegean before Greek.
How old is the name Elysa?
Elysa first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Elysa alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,500 people named Elysa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elysa most popular?
Elysa peaked in 1986, reaching #2620 nationally. Today it ranks #7885, 5,265 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Elysa
The story of Elysa
Elysium appears in the Odyssey as a place at the ends of the earth where certain favored people are taken instead of dying, and later authors developed it into a section of the underworld for the virtuous. Its etymology has resisted explanation: Greek offers nothing convincing, and the word is generally grouped with the substrate vocabulary Greek inherited from an earlier Aegean language, alongside place names in -ssos and -nthos. The Champs-Élysées in Paris carries the name. Elisa, meanwhile, is a straightforward clipping of Elisabeth through French and Italian. Elysa peaks in America in 1986.
Meaning
Hebrew "my God is an oath", by way of Elise
Elysa is a respelling of Elisa or Elise, French short forms of Élisabeth, from Hebrew Elisheva. The Elysian Fields, ēlysion pedion, are unrelated; the word's derivation is unknown and possibly pre-Greek, and one proposal connects it to a term for a place struck by lightning. The y spelling invites the connection and does not create one.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Élisabeth
- Elise
- Elysa
Related forms: Elisa · Elisa · Elisa
Pronouncing Elysa
eh-LEE-suh
Three syllables, stress on the second. The y sounds exactly like an i; Elysa and Elisa are pronounced identically.
Nicknames for Elysa
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
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 200450 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2620reached in 1986
- Change vs 2023
- +8.3%13 in 2025, from 12
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.
Elysa in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elisa in English — spelling variant
- Elisa in Italian — same name
- Elisa in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Elysas among us
people named Elysa are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 123,636 born in 2025 was named Elysa
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Elysa
- #7885
- Elysa on the 2025 chart
- #93
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Elysa went to 13 girls in 2025, but Eliza, Elisa and Elyza and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 3,154, which makes it the 93rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,792 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 510 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 123,636 for Elysa 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 Sharlee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elysa's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sharlee climbed just as high around 1949, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sharlee's path sketches the road Elysa is walking now.
Elysa 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
Elysa beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elysa in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ellie and Elle are immediate, current short forms.
- It descends from one of the best-documented names in Europe.
- It is soft and easy to say in several languages.
- Elisa and Elissa are the standard spellings.
- The y suggests a Greek connection the name does not have.
- It is easily confused with Alyssa and Elissa in speech.
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What they receive
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Elysa
Feminine · #7885 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elysas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Elysa are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Elysa?
- Elysa is one of 5 recorded spellings. Eliza is the more common one — 2,370 births in 2025 against 13 for Elysa.
- How popular is the name Elysa in 2025?
- Elysa ranks #7885 among US girl names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elysa?
- About 1 in every 123,636 US girls born in 2025 was named Elysa — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elysa with classmates?
- Elysa will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elysa
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ola#7885 · Loula#7885 · Consuelo#7885 · Santa#7885 · Florentina#7885 · Marty#7885 · Jaye#7885 · Dollie#7885
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elysa? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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