Giselle

What Giselle means

French, meaning “pledge”

Inherited from Old French, shortened from Germanic compound names beginning with gisil (“pledge”), from Proto-Germanic *gīslaz (“pledge, hostage”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Giselle” (revision 91253790), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Giselle?

US: Falling: down from #221 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1497 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2007, when 2,596 girls got the name (#134 that year). First in the US records in 1949.

How common

• About 1 in 2,002 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 18,092 baby girls in England and Wales 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 NM (2.14 per 1,000 girls), NV (1.2 per 1,000 girls), CA (0.95 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Giselle is #382 in the US and #2006 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 Giselle 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

• Gisselle111 US
• Gisele53 US
• Jiselle34 US
• Gizelle32 US
• Gisel17 US
• Gisell16 US
• Jizelle15 US
• Gissell9 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 Giselle

Girls

• Isabelle#166Variant of Elizabeth, meaning “my God is an oath”^*
• Madelyn#70Editor’s note Down from #59 in 2015 to #70 in 2025 in the US
• Claire#68Variant of Clare, meaning “bright, shining, clear”^*
• Sophie#55French form of Sophia, meaning “wisdom”^*
• Avery#37Editor’s note Used for both: 82% of US babies named Avery in 2025 were girls
• Valery#743Editor’s note Up from #1,209 in 2015 to #743 in 2025 in the US

For a brother

• Joan#984“God is gracious”^*
• Avery#291Editor’s note Down from #188 in 2015 to #291 in 2025 in the US
• Julien#709Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #709 vs #3,256 in 2025
• Augustine#545Same root as Austin, meaning “majestic”^*
• Noel#478French, meaning “birthday of the Lord”^*
• Bo#449Swedish, from Old Norse Búi, meaning “dweller, long-time resident”^*

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