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Gisel

#6,634 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Gisel has been given to 2,283 babies in the U.S. since 1969. In 2025 it ranked #6,634 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1999, with 114 recorded.

Babies named Gisel, 2025

1 in 195,000

Gisel over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Gisel: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Gisel means

Gisel is a given name.

The naming story behind Gisel

Charlotte M. Yonge’s 1884 History of Christian Names includes the exact spelling Gisel in its glossary. The entry labels it feminine and points to printed page(s) 366.

The glossary’s abbreviated description reads: “Frank. Teu. pledge”. This is the historical author’s wording, including its language abbreviations and any proposed interpretation. It is presented as historical evidence, not as a verified modern translation. Victorian classifications and root explanations can differ from later linguistic research.

For Gisel, the current short meaning therefore remains unconfirmed. Establishing its modern etymology requires a current reference that documents the exact form and its relationship to the proposed earlier words.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,283 girls were recorded with the name Gisel between 1969 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 114 in 1999; its best national rank was #1,503 in 1999.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #8,120 in 2020 to #6,634 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #6,312 in 2015 to #6,634 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Gisel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 195,000
17 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 94,500
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#6,634
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
135,172 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Gisel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 135,172 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Gisel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Gisels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Gisel was born before 2003 — so the typical Gisel is around 22 today.

Median birth year
2003
About 22 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
44.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
61.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,283
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 44.9% of all recorded uses (1,026).

Is Gisel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,285
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,486
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−322
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.85×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
14.9%
Peak was 1999 (114)
Years since peak
26
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
22.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,503
1999

Spellings of Gisel

Gisel is not the most common spelling — Giselle is, with 55.3% against Gisel's 2.5%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Gisel is used

Across 1910–2025, Gisel was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 25,000 girls, against 1 in 56,301 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

04 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 25,000
  2. 2Texas1 in 33,333
  3. 3Arizona1 in 50,000
  4. 4Colorado1 in 100,000
  5. 5Florida1 in 100,000
  6. 6Illinois1 in 100,000
  7. 7New York1 in 100,000
  8. 8Georgia1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Gisel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Gisel around the world

Where Gisel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • France
    1921–1921
    #1,039
    in 1921

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Gisel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#6,634
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,486
Best rank ever
#1,503
1999
Peak year
1999
114 that year
First recorded
1969
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,283
Count in 2025
17

Names similar to Gisel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

GisselGisellGiselaGiseleGisellaGissellYiselGriselAyselLieselGisselleYisselZisselIselGisseleHaselJiselGiselleJisselItselGisselaMayselZiselHeysel

Names with a curve like Gisel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Gisel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AshlinTyasiaAysiaAnaiRayannaKyliKailiJocelinShaylynnMackenziYazmineHaily

Sibling names for Gisel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Gisel

Top names of 1999, Gisel's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1999Girls' names starting with G