Elsa

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Elza in BR Brazil, FI Finland, GE Georgia and 1 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Elsa is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name468K records spelled Elsa24 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil

  Languages: English, German, Swedish

  Also written Elsae, E̳l̳s̳a̳, Ëlsa, Élsą, Elsä

• Finnish given name118K records spelled Elsa6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Philippines, Estonia

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Ëlsä, Èlśà, Elsâ

• Indonesian given name41K records spelled Elsa5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, United States, Peru

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay, Malagasy

  Also written 'Elsa, Elsa'

• a separate given name36K records spelled Elsa3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ethiopia, United Kingdom, Bolivia

  Also written Elsä, Elša

• Russian given name12K records spelled Elsa74 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Poland

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Czech

  Also written Эльза, Ельза, El'Za, Elza, Элза

• Albanian given name9.2K records spelled Elsa3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Albania, Kosovo, United States, Italy

  Also written Élsá, Èlsa

• Lao given name3.3K records spelled Elsa3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Laos, Thailand, United States, Chile

  Languages: Lao, Thai

  Also written Elsä

70 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Elsa is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Shortened form of Elisabeth or }Elizabeth. The name was borne by the English-born film actress Elsa Lanchester (1902-86). Elsa Belton was a character in Angela Thirkell’s once widely read Barsetshire Chronicles. The name is now also associated with the lioness named Elsa featured in the book Born Free, by Joy Adamson, which was made into a film.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In Spanish, Variante germánica de Elisa o de Elisabeth

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• In French, Diminutif d’Élisabeth, origine hébraïque, « Dieu est plénitude ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, Diminutif d’Élisabeth, « Dieu est serment ».

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In Swedish, Elsa är ursprungligen en smekform till → Elisabeth. Namnet är ett av de populäraste givna namnen under de senaste årtiondena, 2014 och 2015 det allra vanligaste. Den animerade filmen Frost (2013), där prinsessan Elsa är en av huvudgestalterna, ökade på namnets popularitet. I den rikssvenska almanackan 30 oktober och i den finlandssvenska 14 oktober.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Elsa Beskowb. 1874SESwedish artist (1874-1953)
• Elsa Einsteinb. 1876DEsecond wife and cousin of Albert Einstein (1876-1936)
• Elsa Schiaparellib. 1890ITItalian fashion designer and couturier (1890–1973)
• Elsa Trioletb. 1896FRRussian-French writer (1896–1970)
• Elsa Lanchesterb. 1902GBBritish-American actress (1902–1986)
• Elsa Moranteb. 1912ITItalian novelist (1912–1985)
• Viveca Lindforsb. 1920SEnot in their usual nameSwedish actress (1920–1995)
• Elsa Zylbersteinb. 1968FRFrench actress
• Elsa Patakyb. 1976ESSpanish model and actress
• Elsa Hoskb. 1988SESwedish fashion model

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,422 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Elsa?

We estimate roughly 337 thousand people bear Elsa (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Elsa have the most bearers?

Elsa is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled elsa.

Where is Elsa most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Elsa is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 206 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Elsa compared with other names?

In Argentina, Elsa is the 155th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Elsa a male or female name?

Elsa is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Elsa mean?

Recorded meaning: Short form of Elisabeth, from Hebrew Elisheva, 'my God is an oath'.