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Ilse

#3,936 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Elisabeth

Ilse has been given to 2,401 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #3,936 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1993, with 103 recorded.

Babies named Ilse, 2025

1 in 89,600

Ilse 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ilse: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Elisabeth

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ilse means

Ilse is a diminutive of Elisabeth.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Ilse → Elisabeth. The family’s meaning is “my God is an oath”, recorded in English with the source elements Elishéva.

Origin, language, and formation

Ilse is used in Danish, Estonian and German.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elisabeth.

Pronunciation and spelling

In German, Ilse is pronounced /ˈʔɪlzə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,401 girls were recorded with the name Ilse between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 103 in 1993; its best national rank was #1,512 in 1994.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,297 in 2020 to #3,936 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,337 in 2015 to #3,936 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Ilse?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 89,600
37 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 43,400
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,936
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
62,106 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ilse 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 62,106 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ilse. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ilses were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ilse was born before 1998 — so the typical Ilse is around 27 today.

Median birth year
1998
About 27 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
30.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
42.9%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,165
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 30.0% of all recorded uses (720).

Is Ilse 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
+1,010
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+361
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+401
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.12×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
35.9%
Peak was 1993 (103)
Years since peak
32
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
19.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,512
1994

Spellings of Ilse

Ilse is not the most common spelling — Rose is, with 48.6% against Ilse's 0.23%.

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 Ilse is used

Across 1910–2025, Ilse was most concentrated in Arizona — about 1 in 25,000 girls, against 1 in 48,129 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

04 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arizona1 in 25,000
  2. 2Texas1 in 25,000
  3. 3California1 in 33,333
  4. 4Illinois1 in 100,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in —
  6. 6New York1 in —
  7. 7Wisconsin1 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. Ilse has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Ilse around the world

Where Ilse 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.

  • England & Wales
    2006–2024
    #5,892
    in 2024
  • France
    1901–2007
    #3,824
    in 2007
  • South Australia
    1951–2012
    #871
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Ilse

People whose public names include Ilse, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Ilse in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Ilse. Linked forms have their own page here.

LizIlsaIlzeLisaLiseLizaTinaTineBetsyBettyLieseLieslLiisaBetinaIsabelIzabelLieselBettinaElspethIzabelaElisabetElizabetIsabellaIsabelle

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Ilse by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,936
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 361
Best rank ever
#1,512
1994
Peak year
1993
103 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,401
Count in 2025
37

Names similar to Ilse

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

IlsaElseChelseDulseIlsyKelseIlsiEmilseChealse

Names with a curve like Ilse

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

BeccaPassionBiankaMonaeMarahKiahMarykateJaymeeYanetMagaliCadyNohemi

Sibling names for Ilse

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 Ilse

Top names of 1993, Ilse's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1994Girls' names starting with IShort Danish Girl NamesUncommon German Girl Names