# Elsa (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/elsa/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | German |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɛlsə/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 30,731 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 21 / 30,710 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3,684, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From German Elsa, contraction of Elisabeth, occasionally used in English after its appearance in Wagner's opera Lohengrin (1847). The common noun is after the character of the Frozen series of films.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 499 | 580 |
| 2012 | 542 | 549 |
| 2013 | 566 | 528 |
| 2014 | 1,140 | 286 |
| 2015 | 658 | 486 |
| 2016 | 477 | 627 |
| 2017 | 425 | 686 |
| 2018 | 305 | 888 |
| 2019 | 350 | 791 |
| 2020 | 284 | 917 |
| 2021 | 276 | 951 |
| 2022 | 264 | 994 |
| 2023 | 247 | 1,024 |
| 2024 | 281 | 938 |
| 2025 | 216 | 1,104 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1924 | 5 | 4,537 |
| 1959 | 6 | 3,723 |
| 1973 | 5 | 5,326 |
| 1976 | 5 | 5,869 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 280 | 182 |
| 2012 | 286 | 177 |
| 2013 | 286 | 183 |
| 2014 | 537 | 104 |
| 2015 | 190 | 262 |
| 2016 | 119 | 382 |
| 2017 | 108 | 405 |
| 2018 | 100 | 437 |
| 2019 | 83 | 496 |
| 2020 | 74 | 537 |
| 2021 | 69 | 567 |
| 2022 | 61 | 624 |
| 2023 | 72 | 540 |
| 2024 | 70 | 558 |
| 2025 | 54 | 684 |

## People named Elsa

- Elsa Lanchester, British-American actress (1902–1986)
- Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, German artist and poet (1874 –1927)
- Elsa Zylberstein, French actress
- Elsa Lunghini, French actress and singer
- Elsa Cayat, French psychoanalyst and columnist (1960-2015)
- Elsa Jacquemot, French tennis player
- Elsa Maxwell, American gossip columnist, author, songwriter, and hostess (1883–1963)
- Elsa Jean, American pornographic actress (born 1996)
- Elsa Wagner, German actress (1881-1975)
- Elsa Ehrich, female Nazi war criminal (1914–1948)
- Elsa Rendschmidt, German figure skater (1886-1969)
- Duchess Elsa of Württemberg, German duchess (1876-1936)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.