Gisel
A feminine name of Germanic origin meaning "pledge" or "hostage".
Name Census estimates that about 2,214 living Americans carry the first name Gisel. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gisel today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gisel births was 1999 (114 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gisel. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 154,812 Americans
Peak year
1999
114 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,333
Tracked since 1969
Census
Gisel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,546 people with the first name Gisel, which placed it at #6,334 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#6,334
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,546 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
95.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gisel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gisel is Hispanic at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Black (1.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gisel described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gisel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.2% · 2,423
- White2.8% · 71
- Black or African American1.5% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 8
- Two or more races0.2% · 5
Popularity
Gisel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gisel from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,026 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gisel by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gisel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gisels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Gisel, while Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 121 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gisel
The name Gisel has its origins in the Germanic language, tracing back to the Middle Ages. It is a variation of the name Gisela, which itself is derived from the Germanic elements "gis" meaning "hostage" or "pledge," and "hild" meaning "battle." The name was popular among the Franks and other Germanic tribes during the 6th to 10th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Gisel can be found in the Carolingian dynasty of the 8th and 9th centuries. Gisela, the daughter of the Frankish ruler Pepin the Short and sister of Charlemagne, bore this name. She lived from around 757 to 810 AD and was known for her influential role in the court of her brother.
Another notable historical figure with the name Gisel was Gisela of Burgundy, a German empress consort who lived from around 970 to 1043 AD. She was the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II and played a significant role in the political affairs of her time.
In the 12th century, Gisela of Bavarian descent, also known as Gisela of Merseburg, was an influential abbess and writer. She lived from around 1135 to 1200 AD and is known for her work "Gesta Principum Polonorum" (Deeds of the Princes of the Poles), a chronicle of Polish history.
In the 14th century, Gisela of Marburg, also known as Saint Gisela, was a German princess and nun who lived from around 1270 to 1332 AD. She is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church for her pious and charitable life.
The name Gisel also has a connection to the Germanic legend of the Nibelungenlied, an epic poem dating back to the 13th century. In this work, Giselher is the name of one of the main characters, a prince of the Burgundians, who plays a significant role in the tragic events of the story.
While the name Gisel may have evolved over time and across different cultures, its Germanic roots and connections to historical figures and literary works have contributed to its enduring legacy and significance.
People
Gisel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gisel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gisel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gisel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,214 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gisel going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 154,812 US residents.
Is Gisel a common name?
We classify Gisel as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,266 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gisel most popular?
The single biggest year for Gisel was 1999, when 114 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gisel is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gisel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,546 people with the name Gisel, or 0.84 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,334 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gisel in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gisel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gisel leans strongly female. 2,520 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 27 male bearers (1.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gisel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gisel is Hispanic at 95.2%. The next largest groups are White (2.8%) and Black (1.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gisel most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Gisel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.2% (2,423 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gisel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gisel a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gisel in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Gisel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gisel in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gisel can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Gisel?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.