ninan.org

Elijah

Boys' name · Current

Living in the US
~366,400 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#7 among boys
Births in 2025
11,126 381,915 since 1880
Typical age
14 years, median

Elijah popularity over time

Elijah rank by birth year, 1880–2025Elijah ranked #135 in 1880 and #7 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #4, in 2020.#10#100#7best #4 in 202018901920195019802010
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1880–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

The high point was 2011: 14,034 births recorded as Elijah. It is present from 1880, the first year of the record. Elijah has spent 31 years inside the national top 100.

The 2025 position is #7, on 11,126 births. Compared with 2015, births are down 19%.

Babies named Elijah per yearPeaks at 14,034 births in 2011.14,034 in 2011018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Elijah?

An estimated 366,400 living Americans are called Elijah. That is out of 381,915 recorded births since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Elijah?

The typical living Elijah is 14 years old. More of them were born in the 2010s than in any other decade. By the site’s era rules that makes Elijah a current name.

Your Elijah

Ages of living people named ElijahHalf of living Elijahs are older than 14 and half younger.median 14020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Elijah is most common

The name is concentrated in Hawaii, at 2.0× the national rate. Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming follow.

Where Elijah is used more than average5 states use the name Elijah more than the national average.Alaska: 2.0× the national rateAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: not over-representedNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: 1.9× the national rateWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: 2.0× the national rateNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: 1.8× the national rateMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: 2.0× the national rateHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Elijah is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
Hawaii 459 2.0×
Alaska 335 2.0×
New Mexico 900 2.0×
Wyoming 153 1.9×
Mississippi 1,452 1.8×

Elijah in England and Wales

ONS recorded 1,659 births named Elijah in 2025, ranking it #23.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Elijah comes from

From Hebrew אליהו. Doublet of Ilya, Iliya. Compare Joel. See also Arabic إلياس.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Elijah

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Elijah Wood American actor 1981 86
Elijah Muhammad American religious leader 1897–1975 35
Elijah Just New Zealand association football player 2000 33
Elijah Winnington Australian swimmer 2000 26
Elijah Cummings American politician 1951–2019 25
Elijah Manangoi Kenyan athletics competitor and middle-distance runner 1993 24
Elijah Burke American professional wrestler 1978 22
Elijah Kelley American actor and singer 1986 22

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 310 in 1976 to 509 in 1977 — 1.6 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/elijah.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).