Elsie

Spellings & scripts●

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 19 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◐

Elsie is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Finnish given name3.4K records spelled Elsie5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Hungary, United States, South Africa

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Elsïë, Elsîê

• Greek given name1.2K records spelled Elsie4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, Cyprus, United States, South Africa

  Also written Ελση, Elsi, Έλση

• Thai given name1.0K records spelled Elsie18 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Thailand, Laos, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written Elsy, Else, เอลซ์, เอลิซ, เอลซี่

• Croatian given name626 records spelled Elsie15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Croatia

  Languages: Croatian, Bulgarian, Serbian

  Also written Elsi, Elši, Elšie, Елси

51 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●

Elsie is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In Swedish, Elsie (m.fl. former) är ursprungligen en engelsk smekform till → Elisabeth. Det har varit populärt det senaste årtiondet liksom andra namn på El-. En känd namnbärare är författaren Elsie Johansson (1931–2025).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In German, ) Elsy; englische Aussprache: ['elsi]: weibl. Vom., englische Koseform von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• Scottish and English: simplified form of Elspie , a pet form of ELSPETH . This came to be used as an independent name, and in the early 20th century proved more popular than Elspeth .

  as a word

• In Swedish, a female given name borrowed from English

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

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●

• Elsie Widdowsonb. 1906GBBritish nutritionist (1906–2000)
• Elsie Elizabeth Esterhuysenb. 1912ZASouth African botanist (1912-2006)
• Elsie Tub. 1913GBHong Kong politician and social activist (1913-2015)
• Elyse Knoxb. 1917USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress (1917-2012)
• Rosalind Franklinb. 1920GBnot in their usual nameBritish chemist, biophysicist, and X-ray crystallographer (1920–1958)
• Elsie Leungb. 1939CNHong Kong politician
• Kikki Danielssonb. 1952SEnot in their usual nameSwedish singer, accordinist and song lyricist
• Elsie de Brauwb. 1960NLDutch actress (born 1960)
• Elsie Windesb. 1985USAmerican water polo player
• Elsie Fisherb. 2003USAmerican actor

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 · 1,012 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Elsie?

We estimate roughly 58 thousand people bear Elsie (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Elsie have the most bearers?

Elsie is most frequently recorded in the Philippines, where it is most often spelled elsie.

Where is Elsie most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Elsie is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 1.2 thousand people — even though Philippines holds more of our records for it.

How common is Elsie compared with other names?

In the Philippines, Elsie is the 300th most common given name of 462,140 given names recorded there.

Is Elsie a male or female name?

Elsie 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 Elsie mean?

Recorded meaning: Scottish simplified form of Elspie, a pet form of Elspeth.