Elsie

What Elsie means

Diminutive of Alison, meaning “of noble kind”

diminutive of Alison || From Middle English Alisoun, from Old French Alison, itself from Alis +‎ -on, with Alis ultimately being from Old High German Adalheid or Adalhaid (“of noble kind”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Elsie” (revision 93670900) and “Alison” (revision 94534384), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Elsie?

US: Rising: up from #386 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #33 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1896, when 1,878 girls got the name (#31 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 719 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 149 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 133 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ND (8.52 per 1,000 girls), WY (7.4 per 1,000 girls), SD (6.23 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Elsie is #123 in the US and #8 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Elsie were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Ellsie15 US · 5 E&W
• Elzie15 US
• Elsea5 US
• Elcie5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Elsie

Girls

• Ariella#174Form of Ariel, meaning “lion of God”^*
• Lena#279“the Large River”^*
• Ari#614“lion”^*
• Zara#212“flower”^*
• Rivka#628Same root as Rebecca, meaning “enchantingly beautiful, captivating…^*
• Shiloh#281Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #605 in 2015, #281 in 2025

For a brother

• Elliot#151Variant of Elliott, meaning “my God is Yahweh”^*
• Jethro#952Editor’s note Up from #1,481 in 2015 to #952 in 2025 in the US
• Levi#12Editor’s note Up from #42 in 2015 to #12 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 180 US boys in the 2025 records
• Adriel#84“flock of God”^*
• Samson#477Editor’s note Up from #618 in 2015 to #477 in 2025 in the US
• Ezra#20Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #93 in 2015, #20 in 2025. Short and simple: 4 letters

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Elsie’s. Rank is US 2025.