Scottish and English, spelling variant of Grizel, from Old German, possibly meaning "grey battle-maiden".

This spelling variant of Grizel, while still rare, actually occurs far more often than Grizel itself in the 1841 Census of Aberdeenshire. There are many such spelling variations and Soundex searches should be based on Grisel, Grizel, Girsel and Girzel.

Old documents written in Latin used Griselda, with appropriate case endings.