Griselle
A French name meaning "small gray one", derived from the French word "gris".
Name Census estimates that about 361 living Americans carry the first name Griselle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Griselle today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Griselle births was 1982 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Griselle. 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.
People living today
361
~ 1 in 949,458 Americans
Peak year
1982
14 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2018 SSA rank
#14,433
Tracked since 1957
Census
Griselle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 909 people with the first name Griselle, which placed it at #13,330 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
#13,330
National first-name rank
People counted
909
909 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
96.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Griselle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Griselle is Hispanic at 96.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Griselle 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 Griselle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino96.7% · 879
- White1.5% · 14
- Black or African American0.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 7
- Two or more races0.2% · 2
Popularity
Griselle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Griselle from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 99 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
Griselle 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 Griselle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Griselles live
Origin
Meaning and history of Griselle
The given name Griselle is a French variant of the Germanic name Gisela, which ultimately derives from the Old Frankish name Gisilo. The name is composed of two elements: "gis" meaning pledge or hostage, and "hild" meaning battle or combat. It can be interpreted as meaning "pledge of battle" or "hostage in battle".
The name Gisela was popular among the Frankish nobility during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is Gisela, the daughter of King Pippin III of the Franks, who lived from around 757 to 810 AD. She married Charlemagne's son, Eberhard, and was known for her piety and charitable works.
In the 11th century, Gisela of Swabia (c. 990 – 1043) was a notable figure. She was the wife of King Stephen I of Hungary and played a significant role in the conversion of Hungary to Christianity. Her influence and devotion earned her the title of "Queen of Hungary".
The name Griselle or Grisela also appears in medieval French literature, notably in the 14th-century French poem "The Romance of the Rose". In this allegorical work, Griselle is depicted as a character representing the virtue of chastity.
Another notable figure with this name was Griselle Delaporte (c. 1500 – c. 1580), a French landowner and businesswoman who managed her family's estates and businesses after being widowed at a young age. She was known for her shrewd business acumen and became a wealthy and influential figure in her region.
In the 16th century, Griselle de Batarnay (c. 1520 – 1575) was a French noblewoman and philanthropist. She was known for her charitable works, including founding a hospital and a school for girls in her hometown of Bourges.
While the name Griselle has been more commonly used in France and other French-speaking regions, it has also been adopted in various forms in other cultures over time, reflecting the rich history and travels of this name.
People
Griselle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Griselle as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Griselle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Griselle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 361 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Griselle 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 949,458 US residents.
Is Griselle a common name?
We classify Griselle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 390 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Griselle most popular?
The single biggest year for Griselle was 1982, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Griselle is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Griselle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 909 people with the name Griselle, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,330 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 Griselle 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 Griselle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Griselle appears almost entirely female. Of the 907 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Griselle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Griselle is Hispanic at 96.7%. The next largest groups are White (1.5%) and Black (0.8%). 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 Griselle most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Griselle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.7% (879 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 Griselle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Griselle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Griselle 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 Griselle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Griselle 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 Griselle 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 have Griselle as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Griselle on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.