Head to head · Girls' names
Elaine vs Elodie
#304 vs #310 in 2025
Elaine is a whisker ahead (#304 vs #310 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Elaine is back after a long quiet spell, Elodie is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Elodie has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Elaine leads 5 measures of 6; Elodie leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Elaine #987, Elodie #874 — Elodie higher
- 1890s: Elaine #616, Elodie #1230 — Elaine higher
- 1900s: Elaine #397, Elodie #1606 — Elaine higher
- 1910s: Elaine #203, Elodie #2137 — Elaine higher
- 1920s: Elaine #81, Elodie #2871 — Elaine higher
- 1930s: Elaine #56, Elodie #2999 — Elaine higher
- 1940s: Elaine #48, Elodie #3931 — Elaine higher
- 1950s: Elaine #82, Elodie #5042 — Elaine higher
- 1960s: Elaine #151, Elodie #6406 — Elaine higher
- 1970s: Elaine #269, Elodie #8374 — Elaine higher
- 1980s: Elaine #340, Elodie #9889 — Elaine higher
- 1990s: Elaine #467, Elodie #9343 — Elaine higher
- 2000s: Elaine #667, Elodie #4306 — Elaine higher
- 2010s: Elaine #667, Elodie #1350 — Elaine higher
- 2020s: Elaine #420, Elodie #591 — Elaine higher
Elaine stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Elaine has held the lead since the 1890s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Elaine | Elodie |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #987 | #874 |
| 1890s | #616 | #1230 |
| 1900s | #397 | #1606 |
| 1910s | #203 | #2137 |
| 1920s | #81 | #2871 |
| 1930s | #56 | #2999 |
| 1940s | #48 | #3931 |
| 1950s | #82 | #5042 |
| 1960s | #151 | #6406 |
| 1970s | #269 | #8374 |
| 1980s | #340 | #9889 |
| 1990s | #467 | #9343 |
| 2000s | #667 | #4306 |
| 2010s | #667 | #1350 |
| 2020s | #420 | #591 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Elaine
Not charting outside the US.
Elodie
- England & Wales#55
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Elaine
Not established
It is the Old French form of Helen, whose own meaning is not recoverable: the torch and the moon readings offered for it are guesses attached later. A name that arrived through storytelling rather than through the liturgy carries no gloss of its own.
Helene → Elaine
Our story of Elaine — where the record runs out
The Champs-Élysées is the Elysian Fields. In Homer and Hesiod, Elysium is where a few favored people go instead of dying properly — a plain at the ends of the earth with an easy climate, reserved for heroes and relatives of the gods rather than for the virtuous, which is a quite different idea from a reward for good conduct.
Elodie
most likely "foreign riches" or "other wealth"
The leading reading traces Alodia to Gothic or Visigothic roots — elements meaning "other" and "wealth, property," the same family that gave medieval law the word allod for land held outright. A second reading, often repeated, derives it from Greek helodes, "marshy," and is sometimes prettied up as "marsh flower." The Germanic account has the better claim; neither is fully closed.
Alodia → Alodie → Élodie → Elodie
How it traveled
The oldest form is Alodia, borne by one of two sisters, Nunilo and Alodia, executed in ninth-century Muslim Spain and venerated afterwards as saints in Aragon and Navarre — which is why the name survived at all in the Iberian church calendars. Medieval Latin Alodia softened into French Alodie and then Élodie, and there it sat quietly for centuries as a saint's-day name.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Elaine
ee-LAYN
Two syllables with the stress at the back. Some families say uh-LAYN with a reduced first vowel, and both are heard without anybody noticing.
- Lainie — The back of the name with an affectionate ending, used well into adulthood.
- Ellie — The front of the name with an affectionate ending, and a standing name of its own.
Elodie
EL-uh-dee
The usual American reading stresses the first syllable. In French it is closer to ay-law-DEE, with the weight at the end. Both are correct for the name; it helps to pick one and say it first when you introduce her.
- Ellie — The most common English short form; also widely used as a standalone given name, so it is shared with Eleanor, Ella and Elizabeth.
- Elle — Informal one-syllable clip, also a given name in its own right.
- Lodie — Family-level nickname drawn from the back half of the name rather than the front.
- Elo — Used informally in French-speaking households.
- Also Dee, El.
One short form, two names
- Elaine and Elodie both shorten to Ellie.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Elaine if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesElaine is 2 syllables to Elodie's 3
- a long American recordElaine was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 30% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 59% for Elodie
Choose Elodie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 393 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itElodie runs 3 syllables, Elaine 2
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Ellie, Elle and Lodie
- a name that charts abroad tooElodie is on the national lists of England & Wales
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Elaine
Strengths
- It is instantly recognizable without being common in any recent decade.
- Back stress gives a two-syllable name a firm landing.
- The spelling is stable and rarely needs correcting.
To consider
- Elayne, Elane and Alaine are all recorded and will be written for it.
- It has no agreed meaning, and the ones offered are guesses.
- The record holds this spelling for sons as well, though almost never.
Elodie
Strengths
- Ready-made short forms already in circulation — Ellie, Elle, Dee — so nothing has to be invented.
- A documented line back to a ninth-century Spanish saint's name, Alodia, with no gaps that need papering over.
- Works across languages: Élodie in French, Alodia in Spanish, Elodia in Italian, all recognizably the same name.
To consider
- It is very often heard as Melody the first time, and sometimes read that way on a page. Expect a gentle correction to become routine.
- Two stress patterns compete — EL-uh-dee and the French ay-law-DEE — so she will likely hear both, and may need to choose which one she answers to.
- The accent in Élodie is standard in French and optional in English. Whichever you register, the other version will show up on forms and mail.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Elaine
30%chance Elaine feels dated by 2040
Elaine is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
Elodie
59%chance Elodie feels dated by 2040
Elodie is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Elaine and Elodie in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Elaine and Elodie?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Elaine and Elodie — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Elaine or Elodie — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Elaine or Elodie?
- Elaine, in 2025: Elaine ranked #304 with 1,007 babies; Elodie ranked #310 with 980 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Elaine or Elodie?
- Elodie. Over the last five years Elaine moved up 215 places; Elodie moved up 393 places.
- Which is the older name, Elaine or Elodie?
- Elaine was already in use when US records began in 1880; Elodie entered the US charts in 1881. On the American record, Elaine is the older name.
- How many people are named Elaine and Elodie?
- About 155,000 people named Elaine are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 6,000 people named Elodie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Elaine and Elodie share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Ellie, so in a house with both names the short form would not say which child is meant.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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