Louisa

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Luisa in BR Brazil, AR Argentina, ES Spain and 13 more, לואיזה in IL Israel and Louise in GR Greece.

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 18 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◐

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

• French given name135K records spelled Louisa16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, Brazil, Belgium

  Languages: French, Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Louis-A, Lou-Isa, Louïsa, Louisà, Louisã

• Indonesian given name2.2K records spelled Louisa3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Lôuisa

• Polish given name1.7K records spelled Louisa4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, United States, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Louisá

• Russian given name767 records spelled Louisa126 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Kazakhstan

  Languages: Russian, Polish, Uzbek

  Also written Луиза, Luiza, Луїза, Луіза, Luisa

54 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●

Louisa 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.

• In English, A female given name from the Germanic languages, a latinized form of Louise used since the eighteenth century.

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

• In Swedish, Louisa är en engelsk form av → Louise. En bekant namnbärare är den amerikanska författaren Louisa May Alcott (1832–88), som bl.a. skrev den världsberömda ungdoms romanen Unga kvinnor (1868), även filmad flera gånger.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In English, /. city, KY; county, VA; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, county, lA

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In English, Feminine form of Louis.

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

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●

• Louise of Great Britainb. 1724GBnot in their usual namedaughter of George II of Great Britain; Queen consort of Denmark and Norway
• Louisa Adamsb. 1775USFirst Lady of the United States from 1825 to 1829
• Louisa May Alcottb. 1832USAmerican novelist (1832–1888)
• Victoria, Princess Royalb. 1840GBnot in their usual nameBritish princess (1840-1901), Empress of Germany and Queen consort of Prussia from March to June 1888
• Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyllb. 1848GBnot in their usual nameViceregal consort of Canada (1848–1939)
• Edith Cavellb. 1865GBnot in their usual nameBritish nurse (1865-1915)
• Gabrielleb. 1969GBnot in their usual nameBritish singer and songwriter
• Rebecca Fergusonb. 1983SEnot in their usual nameSwedish actress (born 1983)
• Foxesb. 1989GBnot in their usual nameBritish singer
• Louisa Jacobsonb. 1991USAmerican actress

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 · 958 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Louisa?

We estimate roughly 832 thousand people bear Louisa (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Louisa have the most bearers?

Louisa is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled luisa.

Where is Louisa most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Louisa is densest in Sweden — about 1 in 181 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Louisa compared with other names?

In Argentina, Louisa is the 161st most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Louisa a male or female name?

Louisa 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 Louisa mean?

Recorded meaning: Variant of Louise, popular at the turn of the century; now largely replaced by Louise.