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 [ 2 syll. gi-sel-le, gis-e-lle ] The girl name Giselle is pronounced ZHIHSEHL KEY. Giselle has its origins in the Germanic language, and it is used largely in English and French. The name is associated with the medieval custom where rival noblemen would send their children to be raised at each other's court, as a pledge to ensure peace and friendship between them; the child would then be known as a gisil ('pledge, hostage'). Giselle has 20 variations that are used in both English and foreign languages. English variations of the name include Ghislain (also used in Dutch), Gisa (also used in Hebrew and German), Gisela (also used in German, Italian, and Spanish), Gisella (also used in French and Italian), and Giza (also used in Hebrew and Czech). Other English forms include the pet form Gigi (also used in French), and the spelling variants Gisel, Gisele (also used in French), Gisell, Gisselle, and Gizelle. Variations of Giselle used in foreign languages include the French Ghislaine, the French Gisèle, the Czech, Latvian, and Polish Gizela, the Hungarian Gizella, the Hungarian Gizi, the Hungarian Gizike, the Hungarian Gizus, the Russian Gjuzel, and the German Isel. Giselle is popular as a baby name for girls, and it is also perceived to be trendy. The name has been increasing in popularity since the 1980s; prior to that, it was of only infrequent use. At the modest height of its usage in 2007, 0.123% of baby girls were named Giselle. It ranked at #134 then. In 2008, it ranked at #136 with a usage of 0.120%, and it was the most popular within all girl names in its group. 5 times more girls were named Giselle than the next ranked name, the English Gisselle, in 2008. Baby names that sound like Giselle include the German Geli, the Hebrew Geula, the name Zelie, the Bobangi Zella, the German Zilla, the Russian Zilya, the Hebrew Zisel, the English and Italian Zola, the Greek Xylia, the name Zele, the English Zelia, the Arabic and Turkish Zeliha, and the Arabic and Turkish Zuleyha. KEY: Pronunciation for Giselle: ZH as in "seizure (S.IY.ZH.ER)" ; IH as in "it (IH.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)"   |
