Elsa

Where Elsa comes from

From German Elsa, contraction of Elisabeth, occasionally used in English after its appearance in Wagner's opera Lohengrin (1847). The common noun is after the character of the Frozen series of films.
— Wiktionary's entry for Elsa
  • German
  • Hebrew
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #367 among girls — 20 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1895
    Peak, #215
    160 babies named Elsa — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1902
    Elsa Lanchester born
    British-American actress
  4. 1904
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #378.
  5. 1912
    Elsa Morante born
    Italian novelist
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from German or Hebrew.
Namesakes
  • Elsa Morante · Italian novelist, 1912–1985
  • Elsa Lanchester · British-American actress, 1902–1986
  • Elsa Pataky · Spanish model and actress, born 1976
  • Elsa Triolet · Russian-French writer, 1896–1970
  • Elsa Martinelli · Italian fashion model and actress, 1935–2017

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.