Baby Name of the Day: Elspeth

The baby name Elspeth comes from classic Elizabeth, but has a whole other vibe.

Thanks to Lola and Shan for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.

IT STARTS WITH CLASSIC ELIZABETH

The Hebrew Elisheva appears in the Old Testament. It’s been in use for ages, in varied forms. Isabella and Elizabeth rank highest in English, though forms like Elisabeth, Lisbeth, Isabelle, and Isobel perform well in other languages, as do shorter forms. From Liesel to Betty to Elle, there’s no shortage of Elizabeth names.

Elizabeth means “my God is an oath,” all of the related names share the meaning.

The baby name Elspeth is Scottish. It’s more familiar in the UK, though it’s not especially popular there at the moment. It last ranked in the Scottish Top 100 back in 1948.

In the US, Elspeth has never appeared in the Top 1000. That’s part of why it feels so distinctively British.

It’s also true that:

• Agatha Christie gave the name to a character.
• English designer Elspeth Gibson has worked with celebrities like Madonna and Cate Blanchett.
• Veteran Scottish actress Elspeth Gray had long a career television, and appears in iconic British films like 1994’s Four Weddings and a Funeral. (She was one of many mothers of the brides.)
• The famous Huxley family includes an Elspeth, a writer best known for her memoirs about growing up in Colonial Kenya in the early twentieth century. (Writer Aldous Huxley and scientist Thomas Huxley are arguably the best known.)
• From 1982 to 1984, Elspeth Beard became the first British woman to ride a motorcycle around the world.
• The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina gave us a teenage witch by the name.

In 2001, a made-for-television movie titled Snow White: The Fairest of Them All gave the Evil Queen a name: Elspeth. All these years later, that’s a footnote. But it suggests just how little American parents considered it a potential child’s name at the time.

The baby name Elspeth surfaces in plenty of sci fi and fantasy, as well as several video games and Magic: The Gathering. It’s not new, either. W. E. B. Du Bois gave the name to a witch in The Quest of the Silver Fleece written in the 1910s.

SALTBURN

If not fantasy, then we keep hearing the baby name Elspeth as British. In fact, it feels sort of aristocratic.

In 2023 movie Saltburn, Elspeth is the mother of Felix Catton. And yes, she’s Lady Elspeth, played by Rosamund Pike.

The dark psychological thriller reinforces the idea of Elspeth as to-the-manor-born. It’s also a place plenty of parents might hear the name.

ELSBETH

Something that confuses casual observers: the B-to-P consonant shift, transforming Elizabeth to Elspeth.

Let’s say this: it happens. A lot! There’s a whole field of linguistics that studies such phenomena, and Grimm’s Law explains (most of) it. In any case, the pronunciation difference is slight and it’s easy to imagine words changing across language and time.

So while Elsbeth is sometimes heard, it’s far less common.

Today, though, Elsbeth Tascioni is a well-known television character. She debuted on The Good Wife back in 2010. Elsbeth continued to appear on spin-off The Good Fight. And, in 2024, the character got her own spin-off, titled Elsbeth. It’s headed for a second season in late 2024.

Will some parents hear the character’s name and consider the baby name Elspeth? Maybe, but odds are that this is a boost for the nearly identical Elsbeth instead.

HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME ELSPETH?

In the US, the baby name Elspeth peaked in 1984, with 39 births. Maybe that’s down to all the news stories about the adventurers of Elspeth Beard.

Or maybe it was the 1980s obsession with all things plaid. Think The Official Preppy Handbook, published in 1980.

In any case, Elspeth enjoyed a tiny bump in use … then fell back down to normal, barely-there levels. As of 2023, 12 girls were named Elspeth.

But how about Elsbeth?

Interestingly, it also peaked in the year 1984 with 20 girls named Elsbeth. A theory: some parents read about Beard, but others heard the coverage and interpreted the name differently.

As of 2023, just five girls received the name Elsbeth. It’s too soon to say if the television character’s new series will make an impact.

QUIRKY CHARMER

Overall, the baby name Elspeth reads quirky and charming. It’s a little offbeat and even bold, but tied to classic Elizabeth and with a tailored, feminine sensibility.

It’s a little less expected than Veronica, far rarer than Eliza, but with some of the appeal of both those traditional favorites.

The baby name Elspeth blends the sophisticated and the surprising into a name that might take some repetition and spelling, but ultimately should wear well.

What do you think of the baby name Elspeth?

First published on September 14, 2011, this post was revised on August 27, 2024.