Grisel
Feminine · “grey battle”
Grisel is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 1,671 girls against 7 boys since 1880.
Griselda is a test. In Boccaccio's version her husband takes her children away, tells her they are dead, and then pretends to divorce her — all to see whether she will complain. She does not. Chaucer retold it, Petrarch translated it, and readers have been arguing about it for six hundred years.
How old is the name Grisel?
Grisel first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Grisel alive today was born around 1986, making them about 39 years old. About 1,600 people named Grisel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Grisel most popular?
Grisel peaked in 1984, reaching #784 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,148 places below that high. See the whole 1984 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Griselda to Grisel
The story of Grisel
The story is the last tale in the Decameron and it was clearly meant to unsettle: even the character telling it says the marquis's behavior is monstrous. Petrarch translated it into Latin, which spread it across Europe, and Chaucer gave it to his Clerk, who ends by saying that no real woman would put up with this and the point is about patience under God rather than under husbands. That defense has convinced almost nobody since. Patient Griselda entered English as a phrase for a woman who endures anything, and the name went into Spanish as Griselda and Grisel, where it has been in ordinary use for centuries without the story attached.
Meaningscholars disagree
grey battle
Usually read as a Germanic compound: gris, grey, with hild, battle — which may refer to grey armor or to an old warrior. Old Germanic names frequently combined two words without needing them to make a sensible phrase. The reading is standard and not proven.
How the name formed
- Griselda
- Grisel
Related forms: Griselda · Griselda
Pronouncing Grisel
gree-SEL
Two syllables, stress on the second, as Spanish stresses a word ending in l. English readers front-load it as GRIZ-el, which is a different rhythm and the commoner American saying.
Nicknames for Grisel
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
- 1954
- Most girls named
- 198356 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #784reached in 1984
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%7 in 2025, from 7
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.
Grisel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Griselda in Spanish — related form
- Griselda in Italian — related form
Grisels among us
people named Grisel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Grisel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Afton test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Grisel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Afton climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Afton's path sketches the road Grisel is walking now.
Grisel 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
Grisel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Grisel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Germanic origin with both elements traceable to ordinary words.
- Two syllables, six letters, and nothing hard for a Spanish or English speaker.
- Three short forms, one of which is a full name in its own right.
- The story behind the longer form is about a woman enduring cruelty without protest, and readers who know it will mention it.
- English and Spanish speakers put the stress in different places.
- The very few boys given this spelling will be read as girls on paper.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Grisel to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Grisel? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Grisel
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Grisels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Grisel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Grisel in 2025?
- Grisel ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Grisel?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Grisel — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Grisel with classmates?
- Grisel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Grisel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Grisel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Grisel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle