History of Elissa
Queen Elissa of CARTHRAGE (Carthage was a very bad distortion and abbreviation by Romans of Karyat Jadeedah - meaning New Village) was not the first woman in ancient Canaan to be named Elyssa/Elissa. The name is far older than her by thousands of years.
El-Izza or El-Ezza (as the Canaanites said it) means "Pride of El" (by Pride I mean Dignity or Honor as well, nor "Bride" as some may think) and El was the name of god for the Canaanites. [The Greeks called the latter-day Canaanites Phoenicians, but the Canaanites of Carthage actually never called themselves anything but Canaanites, even in their colonies in North Africa and Southern Europe].
Beth was actually a Roman distortion of Beit - meaning House/Clan
So the Canaanites would say Beit El-Izza - to mean The Clan of El-Izza/El-Ezza or House of El-Izza/El-Ezza (that is like saying today The Kennedys' Clan or the House of the Kennedys).
The rising Romans, extremely jealous and resentful of Carthage and its power, again badly distorted the whole name by reversing the proper order of words from the Canaanite to Roman/Latin language, so they translated the name as:
I hope all of you, Elissas, Elyssas, Elizabeths, Elisabeths, and your more abbriviated name-sakes now know more about your name.
So, there are still girls and women in that region named Izza or Ezza, but without the "El." People there are fanatically notorious in following the orders of the existing religions, even in name-structuring, to conform to their new religions' sect culture and its symbols. Example: Muslims name a man Abdullah (Abd-Allah) to mean "Servant of Allah," but their Christian neighbors name their men Abd al-Maseeh, to mean "Servant of the Messiah (Jesus)."
I must say though that your name is a good brand name, with a real glorious history and meaning.
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