Elizabeth (given name)

Elizabeth is a feminine given name, a variation of the Hebrew name Elisheva (אֱלִישֶׁבַע), meaning "My God is an oath" or "My God is abundance", as rendered in the Septuagint.

Elizabeth
Detail of Saint Elizabeth in a painting on an altar by Lucas Cranach the Elder
Pronunciation/ɪˈlɪzəbəθ/
GenderFemale
Language(s)English
Origin
Word/nameHebrew
DerivationElisheva
MeaningMy God is an oath
Other names
Related names

Occurrence in the Bible

"Elizabeth" appears in the Hebrew Bible as the name of Aaron's wife ("Elisheva" in the Hebrew Bible), and in the New Testament as the name of the wife of the priest Zechariah and mother of John the Baptist. It has also been the name of several saints and queens.

Statistics

The name has many variants in use across the world and has been in consistent use worldwide. 'Elizabeth' was the tenth most popular name given to baby girls in the United States in 2007 and has been among the 25 most popular names given to girls in the United States for the past 100 years. It is the only name that remained in the top ten US girls' names list from 1925 to 1972.[1]

In the early 21st century, 'Elizabeth' has been among the top 50 names given to girls in the past 10 years born in England and Wales, as well Canada and Australia, and has been in the top 100 most popular names given to baby girls born in Scotland and Ireland. 'Elizaveta' (Eлизaвeтa), a Russian form of the name, has been in the top 10 names given to baby girls born in Moscow, Russia in the past 10 years. The name is also popular in Ukraine and Belarus.

Name variants

Full name

Diminutives

First half

Middle

Second half

People with the given name

Empresseses, queens, and princesses

Other aristocrats

Saints

Others

Fictional characters

See also
  • Ælfthryth, an unrelated Anglo-Saxon name, derived from the Old English Ælfþryð ('elf-strength'), superficially similar to 'Elspeth' and several other variants of 'Elizabeth'; more often rendered as 'Elfriede', 'Elfrida' or 'Alfreda'.

References
  1. Frank Nuessel (1992). The Study of Names: A Guide to the Principles and Topics. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. p. 10. Archived from the original on 2017-07-06.
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