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Baby Name of the Day: Isa

December 30, 2010 By appellationmountain 21 Comments

letter i

Image by Leo Reynolds via Flickr

Isabella holds the top spot in the US rankings, and mini-names like Ava and Mia are also in the Top Ten.  So why isn’t this one more popular?

Liz’s week continues with the mysterious Isa as our Baby Name of the Day.

It sometimes seems like the shorter a name, the more complex its origins.  There’s more than one way to get to Isa.

She’s usually listed as a short form of Isabella, but Isa could serve as a diminutive for any Isa- name.  There’s Isabeau, Isaura and Isadora, Isannah and Isolde.  With so many girls answering to Isabella, it almost seems inevitable that some will go looking for a nickname beyond Izzy or Bella.

Despite being just three letters, there are two competing pronunciations – EE sa and EYE sa.  If you think of Isa as a Spanish diminutive for Isabella, then the long ee makes sense.  But Australia’s Mount Isa sounds more like Isis or Ida, with the eye sound.  Tomi Swick’s song “Listen Isa” uses the eye sound, too. Given the vast number of cultures in which she’s found, it is impossible to give a definitive pronunciation for Isa.

If you recall Nameberry’s recent post on Dutch names for girls, you might remember seeing Isa on their list.  Three-letter names are big for girls in the Netherlands, too: Amy, Kim, Bo, Fay, Liv, Noa, Aya, Jet, Lot, and Evy are all mentioned.  The official list puts Isa at #12 in 2010.

As for the other possible origins and meanings of Isa, I’m doubtful of their accuracy.  Isabella and her variants have long been popular names, in use throughout Europe.  And Isa’s appearance in the US Top 1000 from 1880 through the early 1900s tracks with greater use of Isabella, too.  Options include:

  • From the Old High German isarn, the origin of the German word for iron, Eisen;
  • Follow isarn back even farther and you’ll find the Greek ieros – strong.  Possibly that’s why a few sites list Isa’s meaning as strong;
  • The Chamorro people are native to Guam and the Mariana Islands, and their dictionary lists isa as the Chamorro word for rainbow. But the area was under Spanish rule for three centuries, so it is tough to say if Isa is considered a traditional Chamorro name, but this article suggests it is possible.

Then there’s the religious connection: along with Yasu, Isa is a name for Jesus in Arabic.  This makes it a masculine name in some parts of the world.

If you followed the BBC’s adaptation of Henning Mankell’s Wallander series, with Kenneth Brannagh starring as Swedish Police Inspector Kurt Wallander, you might recall a minor character from the first season called Isa.

But most English-speaking parents will think of Isa as feminine, and possibly as an iguana.  That’s because a member of Dora the Explorer’s animated entourage is an iguana called Isa.

If you’re looking for a simple name that is distinctive in the English-speaking world, but extremely portable, Isa’s pan-European flair could appeal.  The popularity of Dora suggests that the EE sa pronunciation would work best today, but both are viable options.

More names you might like:

  • Baby Name of the Day: IsoldeBaby Name of the Day: Isolde
  • Baby Name of the Day: YadielBaby Name of the Day: Yadiel
  • Baby Name of the Day: ZivaBaby Name of the Day: Ziva
  • Baby Name of the Day: AntheaBaby Name of the Day: Anthea
  • Starbaby News: Welcome Stella ZavalaStarbaby News: Welcome Stella Zavala

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Comments

  1. Mara says

    June 10, 2015 at 5:43 AM

    I am called Isa as a feminine form of the Germanic male name Ise (ee-suh) / Iso (ee-soh), meaning “ice” or “iron” (I am Dutch, and the name was also used by my greatgrandmother and her grandmother). It is not a shortened version of an other name. It is pronounced as Ee-sah.

    Reply
  2. Isa says

    July 22, 2012 at 10:48 PM

    Strangely enough my name is Isa… parents just liked the name and gave all us kids in the family unique names. But I dig it, I’m glad they didn’t name me something everyone hears every day like Adam or John.

    Reply
  3. Isa says

    April 29, 2012 at 11:57 PM

    My parent named me after my grandmother Elizabeth Ann. But my father whos from El Salvador wanted a nick name for me so called me Isa. I love it. I have yet to meet anyone with the name Isa. @isa__E follow me.

    Reply
  4. lauren says

    November 5, 2011 at 10:30 AM

    thers isa from ‘still game’ lol 🙂

    Reply
  5. liz says

    December 31, 2010 at 1:47 PM

    Isa is my favorite character on Dora, and a friend’s sister is Isa, short for Elizabeth! I like it better than Liz.

    Reply
  6. Natalie says

    December 30, 2010 at 9:28 PM

    I went to school with a girl named Aisa, eye-za. Not sure if that is a seperate name or not. I say them both the same way.

    Reply
  7. Holey says

    December 30, 2010 at 7:38 PM

    The only Isa I had ever heard of is Isa Chandra Moskowitz, who writes vegan cookbooks.

    Reply
    • appellationmountain says

      January 2, 2011 at 9:25 AM

      Thanks for adding her to the list! What a fascinating name – Isa Chandra. And her whole blog and concept is really cool, too.

      Reply
  8. Panya says

    December 30, 2010 at 6:56 PM

    I’ve always loved Isa [EE-sah] as a nickname for Isadora.

    Reply
  9. Bella says

    December 30, 2010 at 5:33 PM

    I have a friend called Isa, short for Louisa…pronounced EE-sa, not EE-za

    Reply
    • appellationmountain says

      January 2, 2011 at 9:20 AM

      Isa for Louisa is lovely!

      Reply
  10. M says

    December 30, 2010 at 4:53 PM

    I had a friend name Isa, a nickname for Isabella. Her family was Italian, so it was EE-sa, short for Isabella (ee-sabella, the Italian way, not is-abella)

    Reply
  11. Caitlin B says

    December 30, 2010 at 3:12 PM

    One of my favorite names is Ida – EE-da.

    I don’t think I could ever use it though, since it’s generally EYE-da…

    Reply
  12. Neva says

    December 30, 2010 at 2:46 PM

    My niece is Isa “ee-sa”, short for Marisa.

    Reply
  13. C in DC says

    December 30, 2010 at 1:15 PM

    I would worry about confusion with Esau.

    Reply
  14. Rachel says

    December 30, 2010 at 12:55 PM

    Yay! I love Isa—in my estimation it’s spunky and cute, but could work for an older girl or woman as well. If we ever have a daughter we’re strongly thinking of Isannah (ee-sahn-ah), nicknamed Isa, for her. I’m currently pregnant with a little boy, however, so we’d have to use Isa sometime in the future, assuming the fates give us a girl!

    Reply
  15. Charlotte Vera says

    December 30, 2010 at 12:09 PM

    I’m not a Dora the Explorer watcher, but I immediately pronounced this as EE-ssa in my head because of its similarity to the name Isha. I had twin friends growing up whose names were Isha (EE-shah) and Asha (AAH-shah). Asha is a relatively common name in India that is usually translated as “hope”. Isha isn’t quite so common and is a little bit more difficult to define since in Hebrew the name means “woman”, but in Hindi/Sanskrit it could be said to mean “the ruling goddess”. Then again it’s also similar to the popular Arabic Aisha, essentially meaning “life”. I’ve heard parents claim all three definitions. Another similar name, Usha (OO-shah), means “dawn”.

    Reply
  16. Angela says

    December 30, 2010 at 11:21 AM

    I know two people who go by “Isa”. One is an “Isadora”, and the other is an “Isyemille” (I think she told me it means something like “little flower”… in Arabic?).

    Reply
  17. Lyndsay says

    December 30, 2010 at 11:12 AM

    I have a friend named Issa, pronounced ee-sa, I don’t know if it’s short for something or not, I don’t think so. I also had a teacher whose last name was Issa (also ee-sa), he was from Lebanon. I think it’s a really great name, unfortunately there are so many Isabellas now that it will lose some of it’s charm for me.

    Reply

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