Gissell
A feminine name of French origin meaning "hostage" or "pledge".
Name Census estimates that about 1,357 living Americans carry the first name Gissell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gissell today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gissell births was 2000 (103 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gissell. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 252,582 Americans
Peak year
2000
103 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,014
Tracked since 1979
Popularity
Gissell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gissell from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 763 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
Gissell 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 Gissell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gissells live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Gissell, while North Carolina, Georgia, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 90 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gissell
The name Gissell has its origins in the Old French language and can be traced back to the Medieval period. It is a feminine form of the name Giselle, which is believed to have derived from the Germanic words "gisil" or "gisel," meaning "hostage" or "pledge."
This name gained popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages when it was used as a personal name among the French nobility and aristocracy. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Gissell can be found in the "Domesday Book," a comprehensive record of landowners and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
The name Gissell is also mentioned in various medieval literary works and historical documents. For instance, the character of Giselle, a young peasant girl, appears in the romantic ballet "Giselle" by Adolphe Adam, which premiered in 1841 and is based on a medieval Slavic legend.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Gissell. One of the earliest was Gissell of Merania (c. 1185-1260), a German noblewoman who was the wife of the Landgrave of Thuringia and played a significant role in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire during the 13th century.
Another notable figure was Gissell de Courtenay (c. 1170-1234), a French noblewoman who was the Empress of Constantinople from 1216 to 1219 through her marriage to Emperor Peter of Courtenay.
In the field of literature, Gissell Bright (1615-1688) was an English writer and translator who is best known for her work "A Treatise of Melancholy," published in 1586.
The name Gissell also appears in religious and spiritual contexts. Saint Gissell (c. 1165-1240) was a German mystic and visionary who is venerated in the Catholic Church and is the patron saint of brides and mothers.
Lastly, Gissell Bündchen (born 1980) is a Brazilian model and environmentalist who has been one of the highest-paid models in the world and has appeared on numerous international magazine covers.
People
Gissell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gissell 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
Gissell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gissell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,357 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gissell 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 252,582 US residents.
Is Gissell a common name?
We classify Gissell as "Rare". It ranks above 91.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,382 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gissell most popular?
The single biggest year for Gissell was 2000, when 103 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gissell is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Gissell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gissell 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.
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.