Elyse
Feminine · “my God is an oath”
Elyse is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 21,245 girls against 19 boys since 1880.
Elyse is the streamlined American spelling of Élise, the French short form of Elisabeth — a name that reached the Middle Ages through Greek scripture and never really left. It travels in two syllables and lands on a soft, hissing finish, the same ending Beethoven put in a title in the early nineteenth century when he wrote his bagatelle "Für Elise." On US records it has more than a century behind it, quietly and without interruption.
How old is the name Elyse?
Elyse first appears in US birth records in 1913 — 112 years ago. The typical Elyse alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 20,500 people named Elyse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elyse most popular?
Elyse peaked in 1987, reaching #305 nationally. Today it ranks #918, 613 places below that high. See the whole 1987 chart.
Elyse appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Elyse
The story of Elyse
The line begins with Hebrew Elisheva, borne in the Bible by the wife of Aaron. Greek translators of the Hebrew scriptures rendered it Elisabet, Latin carried it as Elisabeth, and medieval Europe took it up everywhere, shortening it constantly. French speakers clipped it to Élise, German speakers to Elise, and that short form became a name of its own, standing without its parent. Elyse is the English-language respelling of that short form, swapping the i for a y — a habit American naming has applied to dozens of names — and it has appeared in US records for well over a hundred years.
Meaning
my God is an oath
Elyse belongs to the Elisabeth family, from Hebrew Elisheva. The first element, El, is God; the second, sheva, is read as oath, and sometimes as abundance or seven, which is where scholars still differ.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Elisabet
- Elisabeth
- Élise
- Elyse
Related forms: Élise · Elise · Elisa · Elisa · Elisa · Elsa
Pronouncing Elyse
uh-LEESE
Also heard as ee-LEESE. The stress sits on the second syllable, which rhymes with "release." The y in the spelling leads some readers to try ee-LYSE on first sight, so expect to correct that occasionally.
Nicknames for Elyse
High
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
- 1913
- Most girls named
- 1988790 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #305reached in 1987
- Change vs 2023
- −16.9%286 in 2025, from 344
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.
Elyse in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Élise in French — same name
- Elise in German — same name
- Elisa in Italian — related form
- Elisa in Spanish — related form
- Elisa in Portuguese — related form
- Elsa in Swedish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Elyses among us
people named Elyse are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 5,620 born in 2025 was named Elyse
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Elyse
- #918
- Elyse on the 2025 chart
- #193
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Elyse went to 286 girls in 2025, but Elise, Elize and Ellyse and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 1,700, which makes it the 193rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 725 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 945 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 5,620 for Elyse 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 Rene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elyse's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rene climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rene's path sketches the road Elyse is walking now.
Elyse 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 Elyse is headed
Elyse should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Elyse beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elyse in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ready-made short forms that need no explaining: Ellie and Elle are already familiar to everyone.
- Part of the Elisabeth family, one of the longest continuously documented name lines in Europe.
- Recognizable across languages as Elise, Élise or Elisa, so it survives travel and translation.
- Two syllables and eight letters at most in any spelling — easy to write, easy to say once heard.
- More than a century of unbroken use in American records, rather than a recent invention.
- The spelling will need saying aloud. Elise is the more common form, and Elyce, Alyse and Elisa are all in circulation, so "Elyse with a y" becomes a lifelong sentence.
- The y also invites a first-guess pronunciation of ee-LYSE from strangers reading it cold. One correction usually settles it, but the correction will happen often.
- It sits close enough to Elise, Alyssa and Alice that people who know one may reach for the wrong one — worth a thought if a close relative already carries any of them.
- It is stepping back from its high point, which means it is well known to adults without being crowded in a classroom.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Elyse
Feminine · #918 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elyses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 20,500 people named Elyse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Elyse?
- Elyse is one of 5 recorded spellings. Elise is the more common one — 1,367 births in 2025 against 286 for Elyse.
- How popular is the name Elyse in 2025?
- Elyse ranks #918 among US girl names in 2025, with 286 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elyse?
- About 1 in every 5,620 US girls born in 2025 was named Elyse — 286 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elyse with classmates?
- Elyse will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elyse
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zaylee#918 · Giana#920 · Cheyenne#920 · Emmeline#922 · Giuliana#914 · Sarahi#914 · Winifred#922 · Raina#914
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elyse? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elyse and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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