Gisele
Feminine · “pledge”
Gisèle comes from a Frankish word with a hard edge on it. A gisil was a pledge — and in early medieval practice a pledge often meant a child, handed to another family as a living guarantee that a treaty would hold.
How old is the name Gisele?
Gisele first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Gisele alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 5,000 people named Gisele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gisele most popular?
Gisele peaked in 1957, reaching #702 nationally. Today it ranks #3067, 2,365 places below that high. See the whole 1957 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From gisil to Gisele
The story of Gisele
Gisela was a Frankish and Germanic royal name — Charlemagne had a sister and a daughter of the name — and it stayed in use across France, Germany and Hungary. French made Gisèle, which became fashionable in the twentieth century and traveled from there into English-speaking countries and Brazil. The hostage sense had long since faded from anyone's mind, which is generally what happens to a name's meaning once the practice behind it ends.
Meaning
pledge; hostage
Germanic gisil means a pledge or a hostage, and it is the root of the name. Early medieval treaties were secured by exchanging children, who were raised in the other court and were both guests and guarantees; naming a daughter for the practice was not thought grim. The reading is documented and undisputed, and it is one of the more startling etymologies in European naming.
How the name formed
- gisil
- Gisela
- Gisèle
Related forms: Gisela · Gisèle · Gisele · Gizella
Pronouncing Gisele
zhee-ZEL
Two syllables with the stress on the second and a soft zh at the front, following French. Brazilian Portuguese says it much the same way; American English often says juh-ZEL with an English j.
Nicknames for Gisele
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
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 2008223 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #702reached in 1957
- Change vs 2023
- −11.7%53 in 2025, from 60
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.
Gisele in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Gisela in German — same name
- Gisèle in French — same name
- Gisele in Portuguese — same name
- Gizella in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Giseles among us
people named Gisele are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 30,326 born in 2025 was named Gisele
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Gisele
- #3067
- Gisele on the 2025 chart
- #344
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Gisele went to 53 girls in 2025, but Giselle and Gizelle are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 888, which makes it the 344th most-given girls’ name of the year — 2,723 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,810 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 30,326 for Gisele 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 Eloisa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Gisele's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Eloisa climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Eloisa's path sketches the road Gisele is walking now.
Gisele 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 Gisele is headed
Gisele is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Gisele beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Gisele in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A genuinely startling documented meaning, and a real one rather than a gloss.
- Gigi and Elle are both ready short forms and both are established names.
- Two syllables that read correctly in French and Portuguese at first sight.
- The initial consonant is said two ways depending on whether the reader knows French.
- Gisele, Gisèle, Gisela and Giselle all circulate and none is standard in English.
- Its meaning is a hostage, which is worth knowing before rather than after.
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What they receive
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Gisele
Feminine · #3067 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Giseles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,000 people named Gisele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Gisele?
- Gisele is one of 3 recorded spellings. Giselle is the more common one — 803 births in 2025 against 53 for Gisele.
- How popular is the name Gisele in 2025?
- Gisele ranks #3067 among US girl names in 2025, with 53 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Gisele?
- About 1 in every 30,326 US girls born in 2025 was named Gisele — 53 in all.
- Will my child share the name Gisele with classmates?
- Gisele will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Gisele
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Xitlaly#3067 · Finlee#3067 · Evany#3067 · Stacey#3067 · Mahnoor#3067 · Fabiola#3067 · Anissa#3067 · Melodi#3067
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gisele? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Gisele and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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