Elisha

About Elisha

Elisha has two independent name histories. The biblical Hebrew name means “my God is salvation,” while an English feminine use is a spelling of Alicia, from a Germanic family associated with nobility. The prophet Elisha and inventor Elisha Otis give the older masculine name strong historical connections.

The Hebrew name

Biblical Elisha comes from Hebrew Elisha, a contracted form of Elishua. Its elements refer to God and to saving or delivering.

In the Old Testament, Elisha serves the prophet Elijah and succeeds him. The two names are closely linked by their story, but they are distinct names with different formations.

In the second chapter of 2 Kings, Elisha refuses to leave Elijah as they travel toward the Jordan. After Elijah is taken up in a whirlwind, Elisha picks up his fallen mantle.

He then uses the mantle at the river, and the waters part. The scene presents him taking up the role of the older prophet, giving the name a long association with continuity and religious leadership.

Eliseo, Eliseu, and French Élisée are related international forms. English biblical Elisha is usually pronounced ih-LY-shuh, with emphasis on the middle syllable.

The English feminine form

A separate English Elisha is a variant of Alicia. Alicia is a Latinized form of Alice, which developed through Old French from the Germanic Adalheidis.

That family has the meaning “nobleness” or “nobility,” with elements meaning “noble” and “kind” or “sort.” It does not share the Hebrew origin of the prophet's name.

English feminine Elisha can be pronounced uh-LISH-uh or uh-LEE-shuh. Those readings help distinguish it from the usual biblical pronunciation, although personal usage varies. Alisha is a close spelling relative in this tradition.

Elisha Otis and the safety elevator

Elisha Otis demonstrated his elevator safety brake at New York's Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1854. Standing on a raised platform, he had its supporting rope cut.

The platform dropped only a short distance before the brake stopped it. The demonstration addressed a practical fear: a broken hoisting rope could otherwise send a loaded lift falling.

In 1857, the Otis company installed its first passenger elevator in the E. V. Haughwout Building, a five-story New York department store. The development helped make passenger lifts a practical part of city buildings.

Otis's first name gives Elisha a connection with industrial invention alongside its much older biblical history.

Elisha Cuthbert on television

Actor Elisha Cuthbert became familiar to audiences as Jack Bauer’s daughter on 24. She later played Alex in Happy Endings, the comedy about six friends in Chicago that premiered in April 2011.

The pilot begins with Alex leaving her groom, Dave, at the altar. Their subsequent effort to remain part of the same circle of friends provides a very different setting from Cuthbert’s earlier action-drama role.

American popularity

For boys, Elisha's largest published annual count came in 2008, with 392 births. Its strongest male ranking was #255 in 1883.

The female series peaked in 1980, with 624 births at #373. These different peaks reflect the spelling's long use across sexes.

In 2025, 322 boys received the name, ranking #789, alongside 59 girls. The shared spelling therefore continues to represent more than one naming tradition.

How popular is Elisha?

In 2025, Elisha ranked #789 among boys in the United States, with 322 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 392 in 2008. 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.