Elsie: the Scottish pet name that grew into a name of its own

Where the name Elsie comes from

Elsie began in Scotland as a pet form of Elspeth, the Scots version of Elizabeth. Elizabeth itself goes back to the Hebrew Elisheba, usually translated as "my God is an oath" or "God is abundance". So behind a name that feels light and playful there is a very old, rather solemn root – a nice thing to tell a girl when she asks what her name means.

By the late nineteenth century Elsie had shaken off its role as a nickname and was being given as a first name throughout Britain. Around 1900 it was among the most popular girls' names in England and Wales, the kind of name you find again and again in old school registers and on the backs of family photographs. One well-known bearer from that era is Elsie Inglis, the Edinburgh doctor and suffragist who set up the Scottish Women's Hospitals during the First World War – a fitting namesake for a girl who isn't afraid to take charge. Another is Elsie Widdowson, the British scientist whose work on nutrition shaped wartime rationing – proof that the name has always belonged to clever, determined women as well as to doting grannies.

After that heyday the name went quiet for decades and came to sound like a great-grandmother's name. Then, from the 2000s onwards, it came back strongly, carried by the same wave that brought back other Edwardian names: short, gentle and slightly old-fashioned in a way parents now find charming. Today Elsie is once again a familiar name in British classrooms, and many little Elsies are named after a great-grandmother who wore it first.

The name works the same way in a story as it does in real life: it feels both cosy and spirited. It suits a girl who digs in the garden and a girl who scores goals, which is why it sits so comfortably in very different kinds of adventures.

One small thing parents of an Elsie often notice: because the name is already so short and affectionate, it rarely gets shortened further in everyday life. The name she hears in the story is therefore usually the very same one she hears at the breakfast table, at nursery and from her grandparents – and that familiarity is a big part of why children light up when a character on the page calls her by it. Spellings such as Elsey or Elsy do turn up now and then, but Elsie with "-ie" is by far the usual British form, and it is the one children most often learn to write first.

Nicknames and ways to say Elsie

• Elsie — The everyday form. It is already a pet name by origin, so most families simply use it as it is – in a book it is the form the story uses throughout.
• Els — A quick one-syllable shortening, used by friends, siblings and sports teammates; handy for shouting across a pitch or writing on a lunchbox label.
• Elsie-May, Elsie-Rose — Double-barrelled versions are especially common with Elsie in the UK; some families use the full pairing every day, others only when calling her in for tea.
• Elspeth — The fuller Scots form Elsie grew out of. A few girls are registered as Elspeth and called Elsie at home; others use Elspeth as a grown-up option for later.
• Elsie-bels, Elsie-belle — Rhyming, sing-song pet names used by parents and grandparents for little ones, mostly at bedtime and in silly moments.