ELIZABETH ROSA

The usual spelling of Elisabeth in English. It is recorded in the medieval period, but was made popular by being borne by Queen Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603). In the 20th century it again became extremely fashionable, partly because it was the name of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1900–2002), who in 1936 became Queen Elizabeth as the wife of King George VI, and after his death in 1952 achieved great public affection as Queen Mother for nearly half a century. Even more influentially, it is the name of her daughter Queen Elizabeth II (b. 1926).

Italian and Catalan: from rosa ‘rose’ (Latin rosa), applied in part as a topographic name for someone who lived where wild roses grew, in part as a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a rose, and in part as a nickname for someone with a pink, rosy complexion.