Elsa - Meaning of Elsa

What does Elsa mean?

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Elsa

[ 2 syll. el-sa, els-a ] The baby girl name Elsa is pronounced in English as EHL-Sah or in German as EHL-Saa †. Elsa is an English, Scandinavian, Spanish, Finnish, German, and Scottish name of Germanic and Hebrew origin. The name was first popularized among English speakers by Wagner's romantic opera Lohengrin (1848), in which it appeared as the name of the heroine. It was also borne by the real-life Elsa the lioness (1956-1961), raised in captivity as a cub and later released in Kenya; she has been commemorated in the Joy Adamson non-fictional book Born Free (1960), the subsequent film (1966), and the song (1966) by John Barry.

In addition, Elsa is a derivative (English, Scandinavian, and Spanish) of Alice.

Elsa is also a shortening (English, Finnish, German, Scandinavian, and Scottish) of the Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, and Scandinavian name Elisabeth as well as a shortening (English, Finnish, German, Scandinavian, and Scottish) of the English, Greek, and Hebrew name Elizabeth.

Elsa is also a diminutive of the English and Scottish name Elspeth.

Elsa has 15 derivatives that are used in English and other languages. English derivatives of Elsa include Ellsa, Ellsah, Ellse, Ellsie, Ellsy, Elsah, Elsi, Elsia, Elsje, and Helsa. Other English forms include the diminutives Ellie (used in Scottish too), Elsie (used in Scottish, and German too), and Elsy, and the spelling variant Elza (used in Slavic too). A derivative of the name used in other languages is the German and Scandinavian Else.

The origin and meaning of the name Elsa is inherited by all variant forms.

See also the related form, the Scottish Ailsa.

See also the related categories, life, lioness, english, hebrew, joy (delight), heroine (conqueror), song (dance), opera, spanish, scandinavian, finnish, and german.

Elsa is a classic favorite. Today it is still somewhat popular as a baby girl name, but to a lesser degree than it was in the past. The name has been growing in popularity since the 1940s. Its usage peaked recently in 2014 with 0.058% of baby girls being named Elsa. It had a ranking of #286 then. In 2018, its usage was 0.016% and its ranking #888. Among the family of girl names directly related to Elsa, Elizabeth was the most regularly used. In 2018, it was more frequently used than Elsa by 28 times.

Baby names that sound like Elsa include Elsah, Else, Elek, Elese, Eliese, Eliesse, Elis, Eliz, Elize, Elka, Elkee, Elkey, Elki, Elkie, Elky, Ella, Elleigh, Ellese, Ellesse, and Ellis.

† Pronunciation for Elsa: EH as in "ebb (EH.B)" ; L as in "lay (L.EY)" ; S as in "see (S.IY)" ; AH as in "mud (M.AH.D)" ; AA as in "odd (AA.D)"

Details of famous persons named Elsa:
Actress Elsa Lanchester, born Elsa Sullivan Lanchester October 28, 1902 - December 26, 1986, Lewisham, London, England.
Model Elsa Benitez, born 1977, Sonora, Mexico.