Ilse
Feminine · “God is my oath”
Ilse is the German short form of Elisabeth, and Germany has treated it as a full name in its own right for a very long time.
How old is the name Ilse?
Ilse first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Ilse alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 2,200 people named Ilse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ilse most popular?
Ilse peaked in 1994, reaching #1511 nationally. Today it ranks #3903, 2,392 places below that high. See the whole 1994 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Elisheva to Ilse
The story of Ilse
German naming produced an unusually large family of forms from Elisabeth — Else, Ilse, Liesel, Lisbeth, Betti — and several became independent names. Ilse was among the most-used German women's names in the first half of the twentieth century. It also names a river and a Harz mountain legend. It reaches American records with German and Dutch families.
Meaning
God is my oath
From Hebrew Elisheva through Greek Elisabet; the compound joins el, God, to a word for an oath. German clipped the middle of the name rather than either end, which is how Ilse and Else were produced.
How the name formed
- Elisheva
- Elisabeth
- Ilse
Related forms: Ilse · Ilse · Elizabeth
Pronouncing Ilse
IL-zuh
Two syllables, first stressed; the s is a z sound in German. English speakers say ILS.
Nicknames for Ilse
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 1994103 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1511reached in 1994
- Change vs 2023
- +32.1%37 in 2025, from 28
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.
Ilse in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ilse in German — same name
- Ilse in Dutch — same name
- Elizabeth in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Arizona.
Ilses among us
people named Ilse are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 43,440 born in 2025 was named Ilse
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 Mariellen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ilse's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Mariellen climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Mariellen's path sketches the road Ilse is walking now.
Ilse 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 Ilse is headed
Ilse should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Ilse beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ilse in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that forms a complete sentence.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Elisabeth stands behind it as a fuller formal option.
- English speakers give it one syllable and a hard s, which is wrong on both counts.
- It is strongly associated with one mid-century German generation.
- Ilse, Ilsa and Elsa are all close and get confused.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ilse to the vote.
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What they receive
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Ilse
Feminine · #3903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ilses are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,200 people named Ilse are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ilse in 2025?
- Ilse ranks #3903 among US girl names in 2025, with 37 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ilse?
- About 1 in every 43,440 US girls born in 2025 was named Ilse — 37 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ilse with classmates?
- Ilse will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ilse
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kay#3903 · Sonja#3903 · Truth#3903 · Gisela#3903 · Kaylene#3903 · Bronwyn#3903 · Cristal#3903 · Georgianna#3903
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ilse? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ilse and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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
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