Lisbeth
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is my oath".
Name Census estimates that about 5,160 living Americans carry the first name Lisbeth. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Lisbeth today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Lisbeth births was 2002 (409 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Lisbeth. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Lisbeth with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.2K
~ 1 in 66,425 Americans
Peak year
2002
409 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,920
Tracked since 1911
Census
Lisbeth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 8,035 people with the first name Lisbeth, which placed it at #2,863 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
#2,863
National first-name rank
People counted
8.0K
8,035 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Lisbeth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lisbeth is Hispanic at 74.9%. The next largest groups are White (23.5%) and Black (0.7%). 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 Lisbeth 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 Lisbeth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino74.9% · 6,016
- White23.5% · 1,887
- Black or African American0.7% · 55
- Two or more races0.4% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 8
Popularity
Lisbeth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Lisbeth from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,869 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
Lisbeth 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 Lisbeth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Lisbeths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 25 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Lisbeth, while South Carolina, Oregon, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 131 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Lisbeth
Lisbeth is a feminine given name that originated as a German diminutive form of the name Elizabeth. The name Elizabeth itself is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, which means "God is my oath." The earliest known use of the name Lisbeth dates back to the 13th century in Germany.
In medieval times, the name Lisbeth was particularly popular in German-speaking regions of Europe, such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. It was also commonly used in the Low Countries, including the Netherlands and Belgium, where it was spelled as Lijsbeth or Liesbeth.
While the name Lisbeth does not have any direct references in religious scriptures or ancient texts, it is closely tied to the biblical name Elizabeth, which appears in both the Old and New Testaments. One of the most notable historical figures with the name Elizabeth is Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231), a Hungarian princess who renounced her wealth and devoted herself to charitable work.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Lisbeth can be found in the 14th-century German epic poem "Der arme Heinrich" by Hartmann von Aue. In this work, Lisbeth is the name of a young peasant girl who sacrifices herself to cure a knight suffering from leprosy.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Lisbeth. These include:
1. Lisbeth Zwerger (born 1954), an Austrian illustrator of children's books, known for her intricate watercolor illustrations.
2. Lisbeth Palme (1932-2018), a Swedish politician and activist who campaigned for nuclear disarmament and women's rights.
3. Lisbeth Scott (1920-2011), an American author and historian known for her works on the history of the American West.
4. Lisbeth Dahl (1923-2005), a Norwegian film actress who appeared in several Swedish and Norwegian films in the 1940s and 1950s.
5. Lisbeth Zornig Andersen (1906-1999), a Danish politician and women's rights activist who served as the first female president of the Danish Parliament from 1976 to 1979.
While the name Lisbeth has its roots in German and Dutch-speaking regions, it has also been adopted in various other cultures and languages over time, reflecting the diverse and rich history of this feminine moniker.
People
Lisbeth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Lisbeth as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with L
Other first names starting with L with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Lisbeth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Lisbeth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,160 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Lisbeth 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 66,425 US residents.
Is Lisbeth a common name?
We classify Lisbeth as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,910 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Lisbeth most popular?
The single biggest year for Lisbeth was 2002, when 409 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Lisbeth is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Lisbeth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 8,035 people with the name Lisbeth, or 2.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,863 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 Lisbeth 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 Lisbeth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Lisbeth appears almost entirely female. Of the 8,040 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Lisbeth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Lisbeth is Hispanic at 74.9%. The next largest groups are White (23.5%) and Black (0.7%). 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 Lisbeth most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Lisbeth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (6,016 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 Lisbeth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Lisbeth a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Lisbeth 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 Lisbeth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Lisbeth 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 Lisbeth 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 share the name Lisbeth?
You can see how many people have the name Lisbeth on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.