Elisha peaked in 2008 and holds rank #847 with 15,340 SSA records. It's a name with profound biblical depth, a beautiful sound, and a complicated gender reality in American naming — because Elisha sounds close enough to Alicia and Elicia that it consistently crosses the gender boundary in ways its Old Testament bearer never anticipated.
The Hebrew Prophet and His Name
Elisha comes from the Hebrew Elisha (אֱלִישַׁע), meaning "my God is salvation" — from El (God) and yasha (to save). The prophet Elisha in the Hebrew Bible was the successor of Elijah, performing miracles including raising the dead and healing the leper Naaman. He appears in 2 Kings extensively and is considered a major prophet in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Hebrew origin is unambiguous and the biblical lineage is foundational.
Elisha and Elijah: The Prophet Pair
Elijah has been one of America's fastest-rising boy names over the past decade — strong, unambiguous, widely chosen. Elisha is related but softer, and that phonetic softness has created a genuinely ambiguous gender reading in American ears. Elisha sounds similar enough to Alicia that many people default to reading it female on paper. Compare them at Elisha vs. Elijah to see how different their current usage profiles look despite the shared prophetic tradition.
Counter-Reading: The Gender Signal
For a boy named Elisha, the gender question will be a recurring feature of his life — explained in writing, clarified on the phone, noted on forms. For families for whom that correction is simply part of an uncommon name's personality, it's no obstacle. For families who want their son's name to read clearly male in all contexts, Elijah covers much of the same ground with more definitiveness. Browse the full SSA rankings to see how both names compare in current usage.