Gisela
Feminine · “pledge”
Gisela is a Germanic name built on gisil, a word for a hostage — and in early medieval politics a hostage was a pledge of good faith, usually a highly-placed child.
How old is the name Gisela?
Gisela first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Gisela alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 4,000 people named Gisela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gisela most popular?
Gisela peaked in 1995, reaching #1107 nationally. Today it ranks #3903, 2,796 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From gisil to Gisela
The story of Gisela
Charlemagne had a daughter and a sister both called Gisela, and the name stayed in use among Frankish and German nobility for centuries — a Gisela of Bavaria became the first queen of Hungary. The hostage sense is genuine and less alarming than it sounds: the practice was diplomatic. It reaches American records with German, Spanish and Mexican families, and is used in all three.
Meaning
pledge, hostage
From Germanic gisil, a hostage or pledge; the exchange of noble children as guarantees of a treaty was ordinary practice, so the word carried the sense of a solemn undertaking rather than a captive.
How the name formed
- gisil
- Gisela
Related forms: Gisela · Gisela · Gisèle · Gisella
Pronouncing Gisela
gee-SEH-lah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle in Spanish and German. English speakers say jih-SEL-ah.
Nicknames for Gisela
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 1995160 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1107reached in 1995
- Change vs 2023
- −7.5%37 in 2025, from 40
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.
Gisela in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gisela in German — same name
- Gisela in Spanish — same name
- Gisèle in French — same name
- Gisella in Italian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Giselas among us
people named Gisela are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was named Gisela
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Gisela
- #3903
- Gisela on the 2025 chart
- #903
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Gisela went to 37 girls in 2025, but Gisella is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 57, which makes it the 903rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,000 places above the chart.
- Gisela37
- Gisella20
About 1 girl in 28,198 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 43,440 for Gisela 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 Holley test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gisela's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Holley climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Holley's path sketches the road Gisela is walking now.
Gisela 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 Gisela is headed
Gisela should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Gisela beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gisela in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Germanic meaning with a genuinely interesting piece of history behind it.
- Gigi is a warm short form with real international currency.
- Used in German, Spanish and Italian alike, which is unusually broad.
- The first consonant is hard in German and Spanish and soft in English.
- The meaning is hostage, which needs the historical explanation to land well.
- Gisela, Gisele and Gisella are all in use and get confused.
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What they receive
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Gisela
Feminine · #3903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Giselas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,000 people named Gisela are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Gisela?
- Gisela is the most-used spelling in US records — 37 of the 57 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Gisella.
- How popular is the name Gisela in 2025?
- Gisela ranks #3903 among US girl names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gisela?
- About 1 in every 43,440 US girls born in 2025 was named Gisela — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gisela with classmates?
- Gisela will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gisela
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kay#3903 · Sonja#3903 · Truth#3903 · Kaylene#3903 · Bronwyn#3903 · Cristal#3903 · Simi#3903 · Georgianna#3903
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gisela? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gisela and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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