Elisa
- Pronunciation
- [E-li-sa]
- Gender
- Female
- Meaning
- Consecrated To God Abbreviation Of Elisabeth.
- Origin
- French
About the Name Elisa
Elisa is the Italian, Spanish, German, and Portuguese short form of Elisabeth (see separate entry on Elizabeth for the Hebrew Elisheba etymology meaning "my God is my oath" — and the New Testament Elisabeth, mother of John the Baptist). The Italianate Elisa has been used continuously across Italian, Spanish, and German Catholic naming traditions for centuries.
Notable bearers include the iconic Italian opera singer Elisa Toffoli (using the single name Elisa, born 1977, the Italian singer-songwriter whose 2001 song "Luce (tramonti a nord est)" won the Sanremo Music Festival); American novelist Elisa Lam (the case who became one of the most-discussed American disappearance mysteries through 2013–2014); contemporary Spanish-American actress Elisa Ledesma; and the contemporary fictional Elisa of various contemporary novels.
Elisa has been continuously used in Italian-American, Spanish-American, and German-American communities for decades. The name climbed into the US top 300 girls' rank by 2008 and held the top 300 since. The name's appeal is its layered Hebrew-Italian-Spanish-German-Catholic pedigree combined with three flowing syllables — the in-built Elizabeth-classical religious anchor, the strong international elegance, and tonal warmth distinctive to multi-cultural names. The name reads as both classical-Catholic and contemporary American. Common nicknames Eli, Lisa (back-end shortening, a popular standalone name on its own), Elie, and the rare Sasa each carry distinct registers; the alternate spellings Elisa, Elysa, and Eliza (the historical English variant) have their own SSA tracking. International forms include Elisa (essentially identical across Italian/Spanish/German/Portuguese), Élise (French, with accent), Eliza (English alternate), Elizabeth (the longer formal English form), and the original Hebrew Elisheba.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Elisa
US Popularity History (2000–2025)
Annual US births named Elisa by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2012 with 849 girls named Elisa (girl rank #368 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #458 for girls (674 US births). That's 90 places below its 2012 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
Paste the snippet below on any HTML page. Includes a credit link back to 9BabyNames — please keep it intact.
Where in the US Is Elisa Most Popular?
Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Elisa the strongest states are California, New Mexico, Arizona.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | California | #236 | 1,370 |
| 2 | New Mexico | #249 | 29 |
| 3 | Arizona | #278 | 243 |
| 4 | Texas | #290 | 1,042 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | #325 | 168 |
| 6 | Florida | #369 | 462 |
| 7 | Nevada | #400 | 51 |
| 8 | Connecticut | #412 | 45 |
| 9 | Nebraska | #415 | 16 |
| 10 | Colorado | #431 | 119 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Elisa in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alisa | Of The Nobility. | Female | Spanish |
| Aliza | Joy. Joyful. | Female | Hebrew |
| Alizah | Joy. Joyful. | Female | Hebrew |
| Elise | Consecrated To God Abbreviation Of Elisabeth. | Female | French |
| Elissa | Variation Of Elizabeth. My God Is Bountiful:God Of Plenty. | Female | English |
| Elyza | Variation Of Elizabeth. My God Is Bountiful:God Of Plenty. | Female | English |
| Lisa | Devoted To God | Female | German |
Looking for names like Elisa?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Elisa to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Elisa against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
Elisa Baby Name Ideas
- Art Nouveau Baby Names: Botanical Lines, Studio Craft, and Names With Turn-of-the-Century Character
- Should a Baby’s Legal Name and Ceremonial Name Be the Same?
- How to Continue a Family Name When Old Records Use More Than One Spelling
- Three-Syllable Baby Names: Amphibrach, Dactyl, and the Rhythm of a Complete Name
- Frozen-Inspired Baby Names: From Arendelle to the Real World
- Disney Princess Baby Names: From the Castle to the Classroom
- Timeless Elegance: German Baby Names and Their Meanings
- Brittany Baby Names: Names Inspired by the French Region of Brittany
- Top 10 Searched Boy Names of 2016
- 500 Sporty Girl Names Inspired By Women Soccer Players
- 40 Biblical Baby Names From The New Testament
- 100 Cool Southern Girl Names That Are Uncommon
- 80 Spiritual Baby Names Inspired By Fairies, Mermaids, Nymphs, and Elves
- Top 1000 Most Popular Girl Names In U.S. Of 2015
- Top 100 Girl Baby Names in Spain
- Welsh Baby Names: 300 Traditional Welsh Girl Names
- Top 100 Dutch Girl Names In Netherlands
- 93 Artistic Baby Names After Great Artists
- 10 Names After the Most Influential People in History
- 100 Unusual Baby Names That Mean God