This set of names is a Spanish variant of the
Hebrew name
Elisheba through Latin and Greek represented in English and other European languages as
Elisabeth. These names are derived from the Latin and Greek renderings of the Hebrew name based on both etymological and contextual evidence (the use of Isabel as a translation of
Elizabeth). The variant form originated through the loss of the first syllable through
rebracketing and the replacement of final with (as does not appear word-finally in standard Spanish). Elisabeth was understood in Spain as a name with the masculine
definite article el "the", that is to say
*El Isabeth, from it, the short form
*Isabeth where the final
-el was substituted to
-eth, both for aesthetical reasons or feminization, or the entire syllable
-bel was substituted to
-beth, by analogy with
bella "pretty, beautiful". ==Notable individuals==