Gissele
Feminine · “pledge”
Gissele is a spelling of Giselle, the name of one of the most famous heroines in ballet. It keeps the soft, gliding sound of the French and adds a doubled s of its own.
How old is the name Gissele?
Gissele first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Gissele alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 600 people named Gissele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gissele most popular?
Gissele peaked in 2003, reaching #3412 nationally. See the whole 2003 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From gisil to Gissele
The story of Gissele
The ballet Giselle tells of a village girl who dies of a broken heart and joins the Wilis, the ghosts of brides who died before their weddings and who dance men to death at night. Théophile Gautier built the story from a passage by Heinrich Heine, who had retold the legend of the Wilis from Slavic folklore. The ballet made Giselle a name known everywhere, and Spanish- and English-speaking families spelled it many ways. The doubled s of Gissele belongs to no older form, and nothing records why it was added.
Meaning
pledge
Giselle comes from the Germanic element gisil, pledge or hostage, through the French form of Gisela. Gissele is a modern spelling.
How the name formed
- gisil
- Gisela
- Giselle
- Gissele
Related forms: Giselle · Gisela · Gisela
Pronouncing Gissele
jih-ZEL
Stress on the second syllable. In Spanish, hee-SEL-eh.
Nicknames for Gissele
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
- 1988
- Most girls named
- 200342 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3412reached in 2003
- Change vs 2015
- −25.0%6 in 2016, from 8
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.
Gissele in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Giselle in French — same name
- Gisela in German — same name
- Gisela in Spanish — same name
Gisseles among us
people named Gissele are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Gissele sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It sounds like a well-loved, graceful name.
- Gigi and Elle give two short forms.
- It works in English and Spanish.
- People will write Giselle, and the doubled s will need spelling out.
- Some will say GIS-el-ee because of the spelling.
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Gissele
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Gisseles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Gissele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gissele in 2025?
- Gissele is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Gissele with classmates?
- Gissele will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
Grace#38 · Gloria#654 · Gladys#3211 · Geraldine#2438 · Gail#8362 · Gertrude#6546 · Georgia#99 · Gina#2076
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gissele? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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