Head to head · Boys' names
Elias vs Elijah
#13 vs #7 in 2025
Elijah is a whisker ahead (#7 vs #13 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Elijah is stepping back from its peak, Elias is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Elias has the edge.
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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, Elijah leads 4 measures of 6; Elias 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: Elias #254, Elijah #159 — Elijah higher
- 1890s: Elias #336, Elijah #201 — Elijah higher
- 1900s: Elias #447, Elijah #228 — Elijah higher
- 1910s: Elias #451, Elijah #320 — Elijah higher
- 1920s: Elias #458, Elijah #353 — Elijah higher
- 1930s: Elias #497, Elijah #381 — Elijah higher
- 1940s: Elias #571, Elijah #403 — Elijah higher
- 1950s: Elias #589, Elijah #483 — Elijah higher
- 1960s: Elias #583, Elijah #626 — Elias higher
- 1970s: Elias #466, Elijah #464 — Elijah higher
- 1980s: Elias #404, Elijah #284 — Elijah higher
- 1990s: Elias #307, Elijah #135 — Elijah higher
- 2000s: Elias #197, Elijah #34 — Elijah higher
- 2010s: Elias #101, Elijah #11 — Elijah higher
- 2020s: Elias #37, Elijah #6 — Elijah higher
Elijah stood higher in 14 of 15 decades; Elijah has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Elias | Elijah |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #254 | #159 |
| 1890s | #336 | #201 |
| 1900s | #447 | #228 |
| 1910s | #451 | #320 |
| 1920s | #458 | #353 |
| 1930s | #497 | #381 |
| 1940s | #571 | #403 |
| 1950s | #589 | #483 |
| 1960s | #583 | #626 |
| 1970s | #466 | #464 |
| 1980s | #404 | #284 |
| 1990s | #307 | #135 |
| 2000s | #197 | #34 |
| 2010s | #101 | #11 |
| 2020s | #37 | #6 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Elias
- Canada#57
- England & Wales#79
Elijah
- England & Wales#23
- Canada#33
- Scotland#59
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Elias
my God is Yahweh
From the Hebrew name Eliyahu, built from El (God) and the divine name Yahweh.
Eliyahu → Ēlias → Elias → Elijah
How it traveled
The name begins as Hebrew Eliyahu, borne by the prophet of the Book of Kings. When Jewish translators in Alexandria rendered the scriptures into Greek, Eliyahu became Ēlias, and Latin took it from there as Elias — which is why medieval Europe knew the prophet by that spelling rather than Elijah.
Elijah
"My God is Yahweh" — Hebrew Eliyahu
Built from El, "God", and the divine name Yahweh; the sense is a declaration of allegiance rather than a description.
Eliyahu → Elias → Elijah
How it traveled
The name is Hebrew, Eliyahu, and belongs to the prophet whose deeds fill several chapters of the Books of Kings, set in the northern kingdom of Israel in the ninth century BC. When the Hebrew scriptures were translated into Greek, and later into Latin, the name came through as Elias — the form that reached most of Europe and still stands in Spanish, German, Greek and Portuguese.
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
Elias
ee-LY-us
Most common in American English, though ih-LY-us is heard just as often. German and Scandinavian speakers say EH-lee-as, and Spanish speakers eh-LEE-as, with the stress on the second syllable and the accent written in: Elías.
- Eli — The usual short form in American English, and a well-established given name in its own right.
- Lias — Informal short form heard in German- and Scandinavian-speaking families.
- El — Casual, family-level shortening rather than a name used on paper.
Elijah
ih-LY-juh
Stress on the second syllable. The j is an English j sound; the European cousin Elias is said EE-lee-ahs or eh-LEE-as instead, so Spanish- and German-speaking relatives may reach for that shape first.
- Eli — By far the most used short form, and a long-established given name in its own right — many Elis were never Elijahs.
- Lijah — Informal and family-level, clipped from the back half of the name.
- Lige — An older American short form, common in nineteenth-century records and rarely heard in new use.
- E — Initial-only, the kind of thing that turns up among friends and teammates rather than on paperwork.
One short form, two names
- Elias and Elijah both shorten to Eli.
Short forms as recorded on each name’s own page. This is here so it is a decision rather than a discovery.
Who has carried each name
Elias
Elias Howe (b. 1819) — Invented the sewing machine
Elias Canetti (b. 1905) — Nobel Prize-winning writer
Elijah
Elijah Wood (b. 1981) — The Lord of the Rings' Frodo
Elijah Cummings (b. 1951) — Longtime congressman and civil rights champion
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Elias if you want…
- a name on the way upup 41 places on the charts in five years
Choose Elijah if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsElijah is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooElijah is on the national lists of England & Wales, Canada and Scotland
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
Elias
Strengths
- Comes with Eli already attached — a short form that needs no explaining and works from preschool to a professional signature.
- Works in German, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese with little or no change, which matters in a multilingual family.
- A documented record stretching from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible through medieval Latin Europe to the present.
To consider
- Elias, Elijah and Eli are close cousins in sound and constantly mistaken for one another; expect to correct which one it is fairly often.
- The two pronunciations — ee-LY-us and eh-LEE-as — both have a genuine claim, so you will be choosing one and repeating it.
- This one is climbing steadily, and it shares a sound world with several other names much in the air, so a classroom may hold something similar even if it holds no other Elias.
Elijah
Strengths
- Eli is a ready-made short form with centuries behind it, and it stands alone as a full given name if he prefers it.
- One dominant spelling in English, widely recognized on sight, with no competing variant fighting it.
- Documented without a break for roughly three thousand years, from the Books of Kings to this year's classrooms.
To consider
- This is a name he will share. In a school of any size there will likely be another Elijah, and more than one Eli, since Eli arrives from other names too.
- Elisha, Elias and Elijah are three different names that sound close and get swapped in speech and on forms. Expect occasional correcting.
- The biblical tie is strong and unmistakable — a pleasure for some families, more weight than others want on a name.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Elias and Elijah 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
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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 Elias and Elijah — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Elias or Elijah — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Elias or Elijah?
- Elijah, in 2025: Elijah ranked #7 with 11,111 babies; Elias ranked #13 with 8,837 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Elias or Elijah?
- Elias. Over the last five years Elias moved up 41 places; Elijah moved down 3 places.
- Which is the older name, Elias or Elijah?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Elias and Elijah?
- About 121,000 people named Elias are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 365,000 people named Elijah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Do Elias and Elijah share a nickname?
- Yes — both shorten to Eli, 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
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