Head to head · Girls' names
Elodie vs Harlow
#310 vs #309 in 2025
Harlow is a whisker ahead (#309 vs #310 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Harlow is holding its place on the charts, 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, Harlow leads 4 measures of 6; Elodie leads 2.
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: Elodie #874, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1890s: Elodie #1230, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1900s: Elodie #1606, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1910s: Elodie #2137, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1920s: Elodie #2871, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1930s: Elodie #2999, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1940s: Elodie #3931, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1950s: Elodie #5042, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1960s: Elodie #6406, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1970s: Elodie #8374, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1980s: Elodie #9889, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 1990s: Elodie #9343, Harlow — — Elodie higher
- 2000s: Elodie #4306, Harlow #7123 — Elodie higher
- 2010s: Elodie #1350, Harlow #495 — Harlow higher
- 2020s: Elodie #591, Harlow #277 — Harlow higher
Elodie stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Harlow has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Elodie | Harlow |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #874 | — |
| 1890s | #1230 | — |
| 1900s | #1606 | — |
| 1910s | #2137 | — |
| 1920s | #2871 | — |
| 1930s | #2999 | — |
| 1940s | #3931 | — |
| 1950s | #5042 | — |
| 1960s | #6406 | — |
| 1970s | #8374 | — |
| 1980s | #9889 | — |
| 1990s | #9343 | — |
| 2000s | #4306 | #7123 |
| 2010s | #1350 | #495 |
| 2020s | #591 | #277 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Elodie
- England & Wales#55
Harlow
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Harlow
from an Old English place name combining hlāw, "hill" or "burial mound", with a first element that is still argued over
The second half is not in doubt: hlāw, an Old English word for a hill or a burial mound. The first half is read two ways — either hearg, a heathen temple or shrine, giving "temple mound", or here, "army", giving "army hill". Both are serious readings of the early spellings of Harlow in Essex, and neither has won.
Herlawe (recorded Essex place name) → Harlow (English place name) → Harlow (English surname) → Harlow (given name)
How it traveled
Harlow is a place before it is a person: a settlement in Essex recorded in early medieval documents, joined later by Harlow Hill in Northumberland. Families who came from those places took the name with them, so Harlow became an English surname, and from there — as English surnames reliably do — it crossed over into use as a first 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
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.
Harlow
HAR-loh
Two syllables, stress on the first: HAR as in "car", then "low". English speakers read it correctly on sight, and it survives the trip into most other languages without much damage.
- Lo — The most common informal short form; used at home rather than on paper.
- Harls — Playground and family shortening, informal only.
- Har — Heard occasionally as a casual clip among friends.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
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, Harlow 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
Choose Harlow if you want…
- a name holding steadyHarlow is holding its place on the charts
- a name with fewer syllablesHarlow is 2 syllables to Elodie's 3
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
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.
Harlow
Strengths
- Reads exactly as it is spelled — most people get both the pronunciation and the spelling right on the first attempt.
- Already familiar as an English surname and place name, so it looks like a real word rather than an invention.
- Two syllables with the stress up front, which sits easily beside most one- and three-syllable middle names.
To consider
- Both boys and girls carry this spelling, but girls are the clear majority in American records. A boy named Harlow will meet forms and teachers that assume otherwise — manageable, but worth knowing in advance.
- Harlowe is a real alternative spelling, so expect to confirm which one you mean. Harley is close enough in sound that it will be substituted sometimes too.
- The surname carries a strong Hollywood association through the actress Jean Harlow, which some families like and others would rather avoid.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
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.
Harlow
40%chance Harlow feels dated by 2040
Harlow sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
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 Elodie and Harlow 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 Elodie and Harlow?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Elodie and Harlow — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Elodie or Harlow — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Elodie or Harlow?
- Harlow, in 2025: Harlow ranked #309 with 981 babies; Elodie ranked #310 with 980 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Elodie or Harlow?
- Elodie. Over the last five years Elodie moved up 393 places; Harlow moved up 15 places.
- Which is the older name, Elodie or Harlow?
- Elodie entered the US charts in 1881; Harlow entered the US charts in 2002. On the American record, Elodie is the older name.
- How many people are named Elodie and Harlow?
- About 6,000 people named Elodie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 14,000 people named Harlow are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Elodies or Harlows in the classroom?
- Elodie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Harlow 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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