Elisha

Where Elisha comes from

Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew אֱלִישָׁע (ʾĔlîšāʿ).
— Wiktionary's entry for Elisha
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Elisha through the years
  1. 1811
    Elisha Otis born
    Founder of Otis Elevator Co.
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #291 among boys, with 32 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1883
    Peak, #253
    42 babies named Elisha, its best rank.
  4. 1887
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births, down to #366.
  5. 1982
    Elisha Cuthbert born
    Canadian actress
  6. 1996
    Mostly boys from here
    Until now more girls than boys got the name. From this year on, more boys have.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin, in quiet use since the 17th century.
  • A female given name, variant of Alicia.
Namesakes
  • Elisha Cuthbert · Canadian actress, born 1982
  • Elisha Otis · Founder of Otis Elevator Co., 1811–1861
  • Elisha Gray · American electrical engineer, 1835–1901
  • Elisha Owusu · Ghanaian and French association football player, born 1997

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.