Head to head · Girls' names
Elizabeth vs Ellie
#17 vs #24 in 2025
Elizabeth is a whisker ahead (#17 vs #24 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Elizabeth is holding its place on the charts, Ellie is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Ellie 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, Elizabeth leads 4 measures of 6; Ellie 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: Elizabeth #4, Ellie #366 — Elizabeth higher
- 1890s: Elizabeth #5, Ellie #415 — Elizabeth higher
- 1900s: Elizabeth #6, Ellie #466 — Elizabeth higher
- 1910s: Elizabeth #8, Ellie #667 — Elizabeth higher
- 1920s: Elizabeth #11, Ellie #849 — Elizabeth higher
- 1930s: Elizabeth #17, Ellie #1073 — Elizabeth higher
- 1940s: Elizabeth #24, Ellie #1333 — Elizabeth higher
- 1950s: Elizabeth #22, Ellie #1370 — Elizabeth higher
- 1960s: Elizabeth #17, Ellie #1525 — Elizabeth higher
- 1970s: Elizabeth #15, Ellie #1747 — Elizabeth higher
- 1980s: Elizabeth #10, Ellie #1639 — Elizabeth higher
- 1990s: Elizabeth #9, Ellie #716 — Elizabeth higher
- 2000s: Elizabeth #10, Ellie #212 — Elizabeth higher
- 2010s: Elizabeth #12, Ellie #62 — Elizabeth higher
- 2020s: Elizabeth #16, Ellie #27 — Elizabeth higher
Elizabeth stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Elizabeth | Ellie |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #4 | #366 |
| 1890s | #5 | #415 |
| 1900s | #6 | #466 |
| 1910s | #8 | #667 |
| 1920s | #11 | #849 |
| 1930s | #17 | #1073 |
| 1940s | #24 | #1333 |
| 1950s | #22 | #1370 |
| 1960s | #17 | #1525 |
| 1970s | #15 | #1747 |
| 1980s | #10 | #1639 |
| 1990s | #9 | #716 |
| 2000s | #10 | #212 |
| 2010s | #12 | #62 |
| 2020s | #16 | #27 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Elizabeth
- Canada#23
- England & Wales#62
Ellie
- Canada#18
- Scotland#48
- France#83
- England & Wales#88
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Elizabeth
my God is an oath
Hebrew Elisheva: el, God, with sheva. Because the word means both an oath and seven, the name is read as my God is an oath and, less often, as my God is abundance. The Beersheba story shows the ambiguity working in the text itself rather than only in the dictionary.
Elisheva → Elisabet → Elizabeth
How it traveled
Elisheva is Aaron's wife in Exodus, named in a single verse. The name reappears in Luke as the mother of John the Baptist, an old woman told she will have a child, and the scene where Mary visits her is one of the few in the Gospels where two women talk to each other.
Ellie
Not established
It depends on which full name is behind it, and increasingly there is none. Eleanor's own origin has never been settled; Elizabeth is a Hebrew sentence about an oath; Ella is Germanic and means something like other or all. A pet form drops exactly the material that would tell you which, and a pet form used alone has no meaning at all.
Eleanor → Ellie
How it traveled
That reversal is one of the largest quiet changes in English-speaking naming. For most of recorded history a pet form was something a child was called and a full name was what went on the certificate, and the two were not confused; over the last fifty years the pet form has increasingly become the registered name, so that the records now hold hundreds of thousands of children with no formal version to grow into.
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
Elizabeth
ih-LIZ-uh-beth
Four syllables, stress on the second. The th at the end is a sound most of the world's languages do not have, which is why every other European version of the name changed it.
- Liz — The commonest American clip; plain, adult and used at work.
- Beth — The quieter option, and a full name in its own right.
- Libby — From a small child's attempt at the whole word; now given alone as well.
- Eliza — A full name of its own since the seventeenth century.
- Also Betty, Elsie.
Ellie
EL-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The doubled l keeps the vowel short, which is doing real work: a single l would leave it long and produce a different name.
- Elle — The name with its ending removed; a complete given name in its own right and French in flavor.
- El — One closed syllable; unisex, short and completely modern.
- Lellie — A nursery reduplication; affectionate and family-only.
Who has carried each name
Elizabeth
Elizabeth II (b. 1926) — Britain's longest-reigning monarch — 70 years on the throne
Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533) — Queen of England's Golden Age, the era of Shakespeare
Elizabeth Taylor (b. 1932) — Violet-eyed Hollywood legend with two Oscars — and Cleopatra
Ellie
Ellie Goulding (b. 1986) — "Lights" and "Love Me Like You Do" hitmaker
Ellie Kemper (b. 1980) — Star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and The Office
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 Elizabeth if you want…
- a name with more sound in itElizabeth runs 4 syllables, Ellie 2
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Liz, Beth and Libby
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 59% for Ellie
Choose Ellie if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesEllie is 2 syllables to Elizabeth's 4
- a name that charts abroad tooEllie is on the national lists of Canada, Scotland, France and England & Wales
- a name that feels very nowEllie is climbing the charts fast
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
Elizabeth
Strengths
- More short forms than any other name in English, at every possible register.
- Recognized in every European language, usually without translation.
- A documented Hebrew meaning and continuous use for more than two thousand years.
To consider
- It is one of the most given names in the English-speaking world and always has been.
- The short forms are so numerous that a child may end up called several things at once.
- It is nine letters and four syllables on every form she will ever fill in.
Ellie
Strengths
- Short, warm and among the easiest names in English for a small child to say.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Several long formal names sit behind it if a family wants one on the certificate.
To consider
- It is a pet form used as a full name, which leaves nothing more formal underneath.
- It is currently extremely popular, which means a classroom is likely to hold more than one.
- Elly, Elli and Ellee all exist for the same sound.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Elizabeth
12%chance Elizabeth feels dated by 2040
Elizabeth has held the top-100 across 15 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Ellie
59%chance Ellie feels dated by 2040
Ellie 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 Elizabeth and Ellie 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 Elizabeth and Ellie?
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 than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
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 Elizabeth and Ellie — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Elizabeth or Ellie — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Elizabeth or Ellie?
- Elizabeth, in 2025: Elizabeth ranked #17 with 6,760 babies; Ellie ranked #24 with 6,176 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Elizabeth or Ellie?
- Ellie. Over the last five years Elizabeth moved down 1 place; Ellie moved up 5 places.
- Which is the older name, Elizabeth or Ellie?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Elizabeth and Ellie?
- About 1,160,000 people named Elizabeth are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 102,000 people named Ellie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Elizabeths or Ellies in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Elizabeth. Ellie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
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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