Elisabeth

About Elisabeth

Elisabeth is an international form of Elizabeth, meaning “my God is an oath.” Familiar in German, Dutch, Scandinavian languages, and English, its “s” spelling has a long history of its own, including use in the Authorized Version of the New Testament.

Meaning and related forms

The name comes from Hebrew Elisheva through Greek and Latin forms. Its roots refer to God and an oath. In the New Testament, Elisabeth is the mother of John the Baptist.

Elizabeth and Elisabeth belong to the same name family, rather than having different meanings. Elisabet is another closely related spelling. Elisa, Elise, Lisa, and Beth offer established shorter forms, with different preferences across languages.

The range of familiar forms is part of the name’s history. Some preserve its opening, others its middle or ending, allowing the same long name to have several recognizable everyday versions.

Pronunciation

English Elisabeth usually sounds like Elizabeth: ih-LIZ-uh-buth, with four syllables and emphasis on the second. The written “s” commonly has a “z” sound in English.

German Elisabeth is approximately eh-LEE-zah-bet. Its final consonant is a “t,” while the stressed vowel is longer than in the usual English form. Dutch and Scandinavian pronunciations also differ from English, so the spelling supports several established sounds.

Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun

The French portrait painter Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun lived from 1755 to 1842. She developed exceptional skills largely through her own study and became closely associated with Marie Antoinette.

The queen’s intervention helped secure her admission to the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1783, when she was twenty-eight. She was one of only four women members at that time.

Her royal connections forced her to leave France in 1789. She continued working across Europe, including in Italy, Vienna, and St. Petersburg, before returning to France. Her portraits give Elisabeth a substantial association with an artist whose career crossed both national borders and the upheaval of the French Revolution.

Elisabeth Moss on television

Actor Elisabeth Moss became familiar as Peggy Olson in Mad Men, a role that follows a secretary’s development into a copywriter.

She later played Offred in The Handmaid’s Tale. In 2017, she won the Emmy for lead actress in a drama series and shared the drama-series award as a producer of the show.

Moss gives the exact “s” spelling a modern screen presence, while Vigée Le Brun provides an older connection with portraiture. Both are substantial artistic associations attached to the full name.

Popularity in the United States

Elisabeth’s strongest American year was 2001, with 1,093 girls and a rank of No. 286. The count was 752 in 1980 and 735 in 2000.

In 2025, it ranked No. 925 with 282 girls. Its use remains regular but modest, with a separate statistical history from the more common Elizabeth spelling.

How popular is Elisabeth?

In 2025, Elisabeth ranked #925 among girls in the United States, with 282 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for girls in 1880; its largest annual count was 1,093 in 2001. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.