Gizell
A feminine name derived from the Hebrew name Gizela, meaning "gift by God."
Name Census estimates that about 95 living Americans carry the first name Gizell. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Gizell today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gizell births was 2005 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gizell. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Gizell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
95
~ 1 in 3,607,940 Americans
Peak year
2005
13 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2012 SSA rank
#17,788
Tracked since 1999
Census
Gizell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 143 people with the first name Gizell, which placed it at #46,519 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
#46,519
National first-name rank
People counted
143
143 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
74.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gizell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gizell is Hispanic at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and White (6.3%). 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 Gizell 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 Gizell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino74.8% · 107
- Black or African American16.1% · 23
- White6.3% · 9
- Two or more races2.1% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
Popularity
Gizell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gizell from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 78 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
Gizell 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 Gizell during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gizells live
Origin
Meaning and history of Gizell
The name Gizell is a variant spelling of the French name Giselle, which is derived from the Germanic name Gisela. The name Gisela is thought to have originated from the Old Frankish word "gisal," meaning "pledge" or "hostage." This suggests that the name may have been initially used to refer to a person who was given as a pledge or hostage in a peace treaty or other agreement.
In the Middle Ages, the name Gisela became popular among the nobility and royal families of various European countries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the 9th century, when Gisela was the name of the daughter of the Frankish king Louis the Pious.
Another notable historical figure named Gisela was the wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II, who ruled in the 11th century. She played a significant role in the political and religious affairs of the time and was known for her piety and charitable works.
In the 12th century, the French writer Chrétien de Troyes popularized the name Giselle in his famous courtly romance, "Lancelot, the Knight of the Cart." The name became associated with the romantic and chivalric ideals of the time.
During the Renaissance period, the name Giselle gained popularity in Italy, where it was spelled as Gisella. One famous bearer of this name was Gisella Agnesi, an Italian mathematician, philosopher, and theologian who lived from 1718 to 1799. She is considered one of the pioneers of the field of calculus and made significant contributions to the study of differential equations.
In the 19th century, the name Giselle was further popularized by the French Romantic ballet "Giselle," which tells the story of a peasant girl who falls in love with a nobleman. The ballet, which premiered in 1841, has become a classic in the world of dance and has helped to keep the name Giselle in use.
Other notable individuals with the name Gizell or its variants include Gisela of Hungary (c. 985-1065), a German empress and wife of the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad II; Giselle Blondet (born 1966), a Mexican actress and model; and Giselle Bündchen (born 1980), a Brazilian supermodel and environmental activist.
People
Gizell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gizell 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
Gizell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gizell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 95 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gizell 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 3,607,940 US residents.
Is Gizell a common name?
We classify Gizell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 96 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gizell most popular?
The single biggest year for Gizell was 2005, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gizell is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gizell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 143 people with the name Gizell, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,519 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 Gizell 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 Gizell?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gizell appears almost entirely female. Of the 143 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Gizell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gizell is Hispanic at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.1%) and White (6.3%). 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 Gizell most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Gizell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.8% (107 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 Gizell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gizell a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gizell 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 Gizell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gizell 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 Gizell 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 Gizell?
You can see how many people share the name Gizell on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.