by Ann Major

Created on: February 18, 2008   Last Updated: June 11, 2010

Elsa was a trombone player whom I taught in my music class many years ago. She was a down- to-earth, wholesome, sweet little girl.

The Gender of Elsa is feminine, pronounced EL-sa(English), EL-sah (German) and is one of the short forms of the name Elizabeth. Elizabeth as a female name has been widely popular throughout the ages, but the short form, Elsa has not been as such.

Etymology:
In Hebrew, Elsa means "My God is a Vow". It comes from the Hebrew name Elisheva or Elisheba. Later usage included "joyful, my god is Bountiful, God of Plenty,Consecrated to God, Oat of God, God is satisfaction, God is Perfection." The name Elsa count not be more extensive in meaning.

Origins and History:
The first recorded name of Elizabeth appeared in England in 1205. It was very popular as a name in the Middle Ages from the 13th Century and up, and became even more popular when Queen Elizabeth I cam to the English throne and heralded the Elizabethan Era, which was prosperous and famous.

Popularity:
If you look at a popularity chart for Elsa, you would find it goes up and down like a graph of Stock Market activity. If you turn it side way, it could be the skyline of New York or Manhattan. Its popularity was slow and gradual from 1900's-1990's, making a cameo appearance in 2006 as a token #792 out of 1000 names.

The name Elsa is moderately popular in France and Spain. However, in Sweden, it is star presentation with a ranking of 16 in 2006 out of 100 names.

There are numerous variants on the name Elsa or Elizabeth but a few will be pointed out according to common usage.

Annabeth - feminine - English ( Remember Annabeth Gish, actress?)
Babette - feminine - English ( Sister of sex symbol, Bridget Bardot,
animal lover, and whom my husband claims
he kissed)
Bess - feminine - English ( Queen "Bess" Elizabeth I)
Betsy - feminine- English ( Remember the Betsy-Wetsy dolls? Not my era
Bette - feminine- English ( Bette Davis, actress)
Elisa - English, German, Italian, Spanish
Portuguese, Finnish ( Remember the song "For the Love of Elisa?")
Elisabeth - German, Dutch, Scandanavian
English, Biblical
Elise - German ( Remember Beethoven's most famous piano
piece "Fur Elise?")
Elli (Ellie May in Beverly Hillbillies)
Isabela - Spain ( Queen Isabela of Spain for Christopher
Columbus)
Jobeth ( Jobeth Williams, actress)
Libby ( Libby's canned tomatoes, Canadian)
Lisa ( one of my husband's ex-girlfriends)
Liz ( Liz Taylor, actress)
MaryBeth ( Mary Beth Roe, a hostess on popular
shopping channel)

Holidays for Elsa:

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