Lisa

See also lisa, and lisä

English

Etymology

Diminutive of Elisabeth in several European languages.

Pronunciation

• enPR: lēʹsə, IPA: /ˈliːsə/, SAMPA: /"li:s@/ or enPR: lēʹzə, IPA: /ˈliːzə/, SAMPA: /"li:z@/ (depending on the choice of the person so named)
• Rhymes: -iːsə
• Rhymes: -iːzə

Proper noun

Lisa (plural Lisas)

1. A female given name.

   You were born in the '70s? Were you named after Lisa on As the World Turns?

Usage notes

• Taken to general use as a full English given name in early 20th century. Very popular in the U.S. in the 1960s, and in the U.K. a decade later.

Quotations

• 1868 Concocted by William Meynell Whittmore (and others): Sunshine: page 138:

  Elizabeth coloured.

  "Oh, I don't want the doll called after me, if that is what you mean," she said, rather disdainfully.

  "Nonsense, Lisa!" laughed her father, "you ought to consider yourself highly honoured to have such a handsome lady as this for your namesake."

• 1997 Penelope Lively, Moon Tiger. Grove Press. ISBN0802135331

  Lisa is a better name. Claudia bangs, like the gong in the hall at Sotleigh. Bang - whoom! Lisa makes a nice silky noise, like streams or rain.

• 2007 Elinor Lipman, My Latest Grievance ISBN 0618872353 page 16:

  Did I want to be burdened with a common name? Be the third Lisa and fourth Susan in my classroom? Darleen or Doreen or Maureen?

  I did.

Anagrams

• ails
• Isla
• lais
• lias
• sail
• sial

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Danish

Proper noun

Lisa

1. A female given name derived from Elisabeth.

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French

Proper noun

Lisa

1. A female given name, diminutive of Élisabeth.

Anagrams

• ails, lias, sali, sila

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German

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈliːza/

Proper noun

Lisa

1. A female given name derived from Elisabeth.

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Italian

Proper noun

Lisa f.

1. A female given name, diminutive of Elisabetta.

Anagrams

• sali, salì

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Norwegian

Proper noun

Lisa

1. A female given name derived from Elisabeth.

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Swedish

Etymology

Short form of Elisabet. First recorded in Sweden in 1558.

Proper noun

Lisa

1. A female given name.

References

• Roland Otterbjörk: Svenska förnamn, Almqvist & Wiksell 1996, ISBN 91-21-10937-0
• [1] Statistiska centralbyrån and Sture Allén, Staffan Wåhlin, Förnamnsboken, Norstedts 1995, ISBN 9119551622: 31 611 females with the given name Lisa living in Sweden on December 31st, 2010, with frequency peaks in the 1910s and the 1990s. Accessed on 19 June 2011.