The story in the numbers

369,304 boys have been named Elijah in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2011, with 13,997 births — 0.74% of all boys recorded that year.

It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 11 → 8).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 2010, and the 2010s alone account for 37%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 30 of them in the top 100 and 9 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 1,289 girls have also been given it, 0.35% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Elijah

856

704

725

1,963

2,755

2,135

2,399

2,314

1,524

3,402

7,567

34,651

110,418

137,093

60,798

In 2011, its biggest year

Elijah was the 13th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 2011 were Jacob, Mason, William, Jayden and Noah. See all of 2011.

Names that rose and fell with Elijah

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.