girl's name
Giselle
ji-ZEL
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 58,807
the United States
#383
2025 births
Giselle means a pledge, and the pledge was a person — the Germanic gisil named a hostage given as security for a treaty. Gage, in this same group, names the pledge when it was an object instead.
- Giselle is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in 2007, when 2,596 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,129 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1949.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Giselle over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1940s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1940s | 5 |
| 1950s | 481 |
| 1960s | 707 |
| 1970s | 835 |
| 1980s | 1,932 |
| 1990s | 6,087 |
| 2000s | 19,741 |
| 2010s | 15,187 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 5,255 |
What Giselle means
Giselle means a pledge, or hostage. The Germanic gisil named someone handed over as a living guarantee that an agreement would be kept, so it records a legal practice.
Where Giselle comes from
Giselle is the French form of the Germanic gisil, a pledge or hostage, and it shares that element with Ghislaine and Gilberte. Exchanging royal children as living guarantees was ordinary diplomacy — they were raised at the other court, so the word carried status rather than shame. Gisela was the name of Charlemagne's sister and of a daughter of Charles the Simple who married the Viking Rollo. Adam's ballet Giselle, first danced in 1841, fixed the spelling in English.
Giselle in use
Giselle peaked in the United States in 2007, when 2,596 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 383rd in the United States on 803 births, 2038th in England and Wales on 14 and 2867th in France on 10, across 58,807 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. France ran its own much earlier peak of 390 births in 1924.
How popular is Giselle?
In 2025, Giselle was given to 803 babies in the United States, ranking #383 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Giselle is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Giselle
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Giselle also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Giselle over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Giselle in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
- Other forms
- Forms we hold no single language for — some are used across several, some are simply spelled differently.
- Gisèle
Sibling names for Giselle
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Giselle — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Giselle
What does the name Giselle mean?
A pledge — the Germanic gisil, a hostage given as security for a treaty.
Why would a hostage be an honor?
Royal children were exchanged as living guarantees and raised at the other court. It marked status.
Is the ballet the source?
No, but Adam's 1841 ballet fixed this spelling in English use.
How popular is Giselle?
383rd in the United States, down from a 2007 peak of 2,596 births.
Is Giselle a girl's or a boy's name?
Giselle is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Giselle?
Giselle has 2 syllables.
Is Giselle a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Giselle currently ranks #383 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.