Elisabeth
A feminine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath".
Name Census estimates that about 37,487 living Americans carry the first name Elisabeth. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elisabeth today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elisabeth births was 2001 (1,093 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elisabeth. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Elisabeth with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
37K
~ 1 in 9,143 Americans
Peak year
2001
1,093 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
1989 SSA rank
#906
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elisabeth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 45,235 people with the first name Elisabeth, which placed it at #964 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#964
National first-name rank
People counted
45K
45,235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
15.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elisabeth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elisabeth is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Elisabeth described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Elisabeth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.0% · 36,200
- Hispanic or Latino11.4% · 5,163
- Two or more races3.3% · 1,487
- Black or African American3.1% · 1,421
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 823
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 141
Gender
Gender distribution for Elisabeth
Out of the 47,756 babies given the name Elisabeth since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Elisabeth as a male name
- Ranked #4,928 in 1989
- 10 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1989 (10 births)
Elisabeth as a female name
- Ranked #906 in 2024
- 292 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2001 (1,093 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elisabeth appears almost entirely female. Of the 45,239 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Elisabeth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elisabeth from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 7,532 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elisabeth by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Elisabeth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elisabeths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Elisabeth, while Wyoming, South Dakota, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 801 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elisabeth
The name Elisabeth is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Elisheva, which means "God is my oath" or "God is abundance." This name has its roots in the biblical figure Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, who was a cousin of the Virgin Mary.
Elisabeth is a variant spelling of the name Elizabeth, with the 's' added to the end. This spelling was commonly used in several European languages, including German, Dutch, and Scandinavian languages. The name gained widespread popularity in the Middle Ages, particularly in Europe.
One of the earliest known historical references to the name Elisabeth can be found in the New Testament of the Bible. The Gospel of Luke mentions Elizabeth as the wife of Zechariah and the mother of John the Baptist. This biblical figure was revered as a saint by several Christian denominations.
Throughout history, many notable women have borne the name Elisabeth. One of the most famous was Elisabeth of Bavaria (1837-1898), better known as Empress Elisabeth of Austria or Sisi. She was the wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I and is remembered for her beauty and tragic death at the hands of an assassin.
Another prominent Elisabeth was Elisabeth of Hungary (1207-1231), a Hungarian princess who became a Franciscan nun and was later canonized as Saint Elizabeth of Hungary. Her life and works inspired numerous artistic depictions and literary works.
In the 16th century, Elisabeth I (1533-1603) reigned as Queen of England and Ireland, ushering in the Elizabethan era, a golden age of English history marked by cultural and literary achievements. Her reign is considered one of the most significant in English history.
Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1691-1750) was a German princess who became the wife of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. She played a significant role in the politics and cultural life of the Habsburg court during her time.
Another notable Elisabeth was Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842), a prominent French painter who was known for her portraits of aristocratic and royal figures. Her works are considered among the finest examples of French Rococo portraiture.
These are just a few examples of the many influential and remarkable women throughout history who bore the name Elisabeth, a name with deep historical roots and cultural significance across various regions and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Elisabeth
People
Elisabeth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elisabeth as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Elisabeth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elisabeth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 37,487 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elisabeth going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 9,143 US residents.
Is Elisabeth a common name?
We classify Elisabeth as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 47,756 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elisabeth most popular?
The single biggest year for Elisabeth was 2001, when 1,093 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elisabeth is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elisabeth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 45,235 people with the name Elisabeth, or 14.98 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #964 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Elisabeth in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Elisabeth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elisabeth appears almost entirely female. Of the 45,239 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Elisabeth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elisabeth is White at 80.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.4%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Elisabeth most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elisabeth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.0% (36,200 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Elisabeth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elisabeth a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Elisabeth in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Elisabeth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elisabeth in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Elisabeth can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Elisabeth?
Find out how many Americans are named Elisabeth on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.