This is also an alternate transcription of Russian Ева (see Yeva).
In medieval Dutch literature, this is the name of the eponymous character of Karel ende Elegast ("Charles and Elegast"), a 13th-century epic poem about Charlemagne and his friend, the noble knight Elegast.
Though it has never been popular in the English-speaking world among Christians, it has historically been a common name for Jews, who have used it as an Americanized form of names such as Isaac, Israel and Isaiah.
Due to similar-looking names like Leontine and Caroline, it has also been used as a feminine name from at least the mid-1800s onwards.