Jisela

Meaning of Jisela

Jisela is a feminine given name of Germanic origin, ultimately derived from the Old High German element gisil, meaning “pledge” or “hostage,” which in the medieval period connoted both a guarantee of loyalty and a symbol of noble obligation; over centuries the form Gisela circulated throughout Europe before evolving into the Hispanic‐inflected Jisela. In modern usage the name bridges linguistic and cultural domains, articulated in Spanish as /xiˈselä/ and in American English as /dʒiːˈsɛlə/, and it evokes an academic air of fealty and historical continuity. Although never widespread, Jisela has maintained a modest yet persistent presence among Anglo‐American and Spanish‐speaking families—particularly in California, where between 1995 and 2006 it appeared intermittently in state birth records with six to ten annual occurrences, ranking consistently in the mid‐300s—underscoring its reserved elegance and enduring, if uncommon, appeal.