Isa 2

I am called Isa as a feminine form of the Germanic male name Ise / Iso, meaning "ice" or "iron" (I am Dutch, and the name also belonged to my greatgrandmother and her grandmother). It is NOT a shortened version of an other name. It is pronounced as Ee-sah.

I read that Isa is also a Teutonic name meaning "Iron" and a Chamoru name meaning "Rainbow".

This name isn't just short for Isabella. It has another, separate origin. "Isa" is the name for a Germanic rune, equivalent to the English short "i", as in "sit". It looks the same as our "I" and it means "ice". I love that meaning. Ice can be beautiful, but it is also dangerous. The old Norse equivalent is "is", and the rune is sometimes called that. Many of the words for "ice" in the Germanic languages are descended from "Isa"; Eis (German), ice (English), is (Norwegian), Ijs (Dutch), to name a few. Correct if I'm wrong, but I think it is pronounced EI-sah, which is much nicer than IZ-ah in my opinion.