Elisha

Where Elisha comes from

Borrowed from Biblical Hebrew אֱלִישָׁע (ʾĔlîšāʿ).
— Wiktionary's entry for Elisha
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1811
    Elisha Otis born
    Founder of Otis Elevator Co.
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #291 among boys — 32 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1883
    Peak, #253
    42 babies named Elisha — more than any year before or since.
  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 it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
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.