Every Girl Name

Girl's name

Elizabeth

Say it ih-LIZ-uh-beth

Hebrew origin my God is an oath 4 syllables

Sister names Middle names Deal sisters

Where Elizabeth is loved, common and rare

Common across Canada, England and Wales, Ireland and two more places. Rare in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Netherlands and 11 more places.

1 in 325 girls born in Ireland in 2025

Every place

In 21 of the 40 official lists, among them British Columbia (29th), Ontario (37th) and Quebec (38th).

Show all 21 placesShow less
PlaceRankGirlsShare
British Columbia province29th 202368about 1 in 176
Ontario province37th 2024210about 1 in 259
Quebec province38th 2025144about 1 in 181
New Zealand61st 202558rank only
England and Wales74th 20256241 in 406
Ireland76th 2025651 in 325
New South Wales state83rd 202586rank only
Scotland116th 2025381 in 471
Northern Ireland121st 2025171 in 429
The Netherlands225th 202566about 1 in 924
Italy246th 2024741 in 2,421
Catalonia region271st 2025131 in 1,482
Poland298th 2025151 in 7,986
Switzerland445th 2025151 in 2,266
Berlin city465th 20236about 1 in 2,417
Sweden501st 202512about 1 in 3,347
Austria515th 202591 in 3,969
Cologne city630th 20231about 1 in 6,143
Israel אליזבט745th 20249about 1 in 8,719
France760th 2025551 in 5,214
Bonn city249th 20252about 1 in 1,508

Rare, below the listed names: Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Munich, Leipzig, Rostock, Norway, Spain, Hungary and Slovenia.

Not in a short top list, so no figure: Nova Scotia (top 21), Denmark (top 50), Finland (top 50), Iceland (top 10), Estonia (top 25), Moscow (top 61), Turkey (top 30), Argentina (top 20) and Croatia (top 50).

Germany publishes no national statistics on first names. German figures here are city lists (Berlin, Munich, Cologne, Bonn, Leipzig, Rostock), never the country.

Israel publishes names in Hebrew script. The Latin spelling shown is our transliteration; the published form is shown beside it.

Sources: BC Vital Statistics Agency (BC Data Catalogue) (British Columbia); Ontario Office of the Registrar General (Ontario Data Catalogue) (Ontario); Retraite Québec (Banque de prénoms, Données Québec) (Quebec); Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), SmartStart (New Zealand); Office for National Statistics (England and Wales); Central Statistics Office (CSO) (Ireland); NSW Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages (Data.NSW) (New South Wales); National Records of Scotland (Scotland); NISRA (Northern Ireland); Sociale Verzekeringsbank (SVB) (the Netherlands); ISTAT, Contanomi (Italy); Idescat (Institut d'Estadística de Catalunya) (Catalonia); Ministerstwo Cyfryzacji, rejestr PESEL (dane.gov.pl) (Poland); Bundesamt für Statistik (BFS) / Office fédéral de la statistique (OFS) (Switzerland); BerlinOnline GmbH; Landesamt für Bürger- und Ordnungsangelegenheiten (LABO) / Standesämter (Berlin); Skatteverket (Swedish Tax Agency) (Sweden); Statistik Austria (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1) (Austria); Stadt Köln, Standesamt (offenedaten-koeln.de) (Cologne); Central Bureau of Statistics (Israel) (Israel); INSEE, Fichier des prénoms (édition 2025) (France); Bundesstadt Bonn, Standesamt (opendata.bonn.de) (Bonn). How we count, and every source

About the name

Elizabeth reached English through Ancient Greek Elisábet, a transliteration of the Old Testament Hebrew name meaning 'my God is an oath'. Isabel and Elisheba are twin forms from the same source.

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Its four syllables, ih-LIZ-uh-beth, give it a formal, classic weight, and it has a wide choice of short forms: Eliza, Beth, Bess and Ellie among them. Elisabeth and Elisabet are spellings used in other languages, and Elise and Elsa are related names.

Elizabeth ranks well in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. In the Ontario and British Columbia records it was at its height in 1939, and it is now rising in twice as many places as it is falling.

Meaning, origin, pronunciation

Pronounced
ih-LIZ-uh-beth, 4 syllables
Meaning
my God is an oath
Origin
Hebrew
Other spellings
Etymology

From Middle English Elizabeth, from the Ancient Greek Ἐλισάβετ (Elisábet), a transliteration of the Old Testament Biblical Hebrew אלישבע (ʔĕlîšeḇaʕ, “my God is an oath”). Doublet of Elisheba and Isabel.

From the Wiktionary entry, CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened.

Over time

Over five years: rising in 6 of 18 regions, falling in 3.

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Rank in each place since 1996; higher on the chart is more popular.

British Columbia 33rd 1996 to 29th 2023
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Ontario 33rd 1996 to 37th 2024
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Quebec 40th 1996 to 38th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025
England and Wales 26th 1996 to 74th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Ireland 44th 1996 to 76th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025
Scotland 73rd 1996 to 116th 2025
1st10th100th1000th19962025

Ten years of ranks

Her rank each year, English-speaking regions first. A blank means no published rank for her that year.

Region2016201720182019202020212022202320242025
England and Wales38444755566060686274
Scotland6280104808611292123113116
Northern Ireland12911010113114011614712487121
Ireland656091827189721068176
Ontario252527243037303537
British Columbia2420221929423629
New South Wales46435147588180878583
Victoria445282566078758185
Queensland484942596264816575
South Australia11515095
New Zealand68816357706887857661
Quebec29293028293133372938
France820856945801738654614615644760
The Netherlands179190185234196191213239225
Austria603669754503452538497487678515
Switzerland471640477652700408645391560445
Berlin458543550323320437468465
Munich203200
Leipzig253193411265357
Norway324348326294317353467322478
Sweden484457494582411570604501
Catalonia450399389305373316361320237271
Italy307315277284253278260246
Poland293274290352259274254241272298
Israel6376657118687048491057745

England and Wales, 1996 to 2025

YearRankGirlsper 100,000 girls
202574624246.4
202462706273.7
202368666259.6
202260795301.7
202160862314.5
202056866322.6
201955933333.2
2018471,076373.3
2017441,174392.5
2016381,384450.6
2015391,338434.5
2014371,398455.9
2013391,357439.9
2012381,446449.0
2011441,396434.5
2010491,356422.4
2009431,404448.0
2008401,509477.9
2007361,409460.3
2006411,476493.3
2005421,435497.8
2004351,515530.0
2003321,539552.3
2002301,624607.4
2001331,538573.9
2000331,552568.1
1999331,652586.5
1998301,702588.6
1997301,892645.3
1996262,225751.7

Sources: Office for National Statistics (1996-2025), OGL v3.

Ontario and British Columbia since 1925

Half of the babies named Elizabeth in Ontario and British Columbia since 1925 were born in or after 1963. First recorded in 1925. Her peak year there: 1939, at 2,226.2 per 100,000 girls.

01,0002,0001940196019802000202001,0002,00019602000

Babies named Elizabeth per 100,000 girls born in Ontario and British Columbia, by five-year period. Her 1939 peak is averaged into its five-year period, so the line sits below it.

Sources: Ontario Office of the Registrar General (Ontario Data Catalogue) (1917-2024), OGL-Ontario; BC Vital Statistics Agency (BC Data Catalogue) (1924-2023), OGL-BC.

Sister names for Elizabeth

  1. 1 in 515 in Ireland

  2. 1 in 162 in England and Wales

  3. 1 in 660 in Ireland

  4. 1 in 326 in England and Wales

  5. 1 in 240 in Ireland

  6. 1 in 405 in Northern Ireland

  7. 1 in 1,789 in Scotland

  8. 1 in 271 in Ireland

  9. 1 in 142 in Scotland

  10. 1 in 214 in Northern Ireland

All sister names for ElizabethDeal more sisters

Middle names for Elizabeth

  1. 1 in 107 in Northern Ireland

  2. 1 in 86 in Ireland

  3. 1 in 57 in Northern Ireland

  4. 1 in 95 in Northern Ireland

  5. 1 in 78 in Northern Ireland

  6. 1 in 197 in Ireland

  7. 1 in 311 in Ireland

  8. 1 in 154 in Ireland

All middle names for ElizabethDeal more middle names

Same style as Elizabeth

Names whose popularity rose and fell with hers across regions and decades.

  1. 1 in 57 in Northern Ireland

  2. 1 in 162 in England and Wales

  3. 1 in 214 in Northern Ireland

  4. 1 in 326 in England and Wales

  5. 1 in 78 in Northern Ireland

  6. 1 in 197 in Ireland

  7. 1 in 118 in Ireland

  8. 1 in 240 in Ireland

Deal more in this style

Famous people named Elizabeth

Elizabeth II, Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Taylor, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Elizabeth of Russia, Elizabeth Blackburn, Elizabeth Olsen and Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

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People: Wikidata (CC0), linked to Wikipedia in this page's language when an article exists.

Questions about Elizabeth

5 questions, on how popular she is, what it means, how to say it, whether she is rising and sister names.

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How popular is Elizabeth?

Her best rank is No. 29 in British Columbia in 2023, about 1 in 176 girls. She is in the published lists of 21 of our 40 regions.

What does Elizabeth mean?

Wiktionary glosses Elizabeth as "my God is an oath".

How do you pronounce Elizabeth?

ih-LIZ-uh-beth, with 4 syllables.

Is Elizabeth getting more popular?

Over five years: rising in 6 of 18 regions, falling in 3.

Which sister names go with Elizabeth?

The deck's top five sisters for Elizabeth: Mary, Evelyn, Rebecca, Eleanor and Leah. Each is scored on style, era, popularity and origin, with sound clashes flagged.

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