Head to head · Girls' names
Elsie vs Esther
#123 vs #119 in 2025 · both back after a long quiet spell
Esther is a whisker ahead (#119 vs #123 in 2025) and both are back after a long quiet spell. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Esther leads 4 measures of 6; Elsie 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: Elsie #59, Esther #91 — Elsie higher
- 1890s: Elsie #35, Esther #43 — Elsie higher
- 1900s: Elsie #39, Esther #35 — Esther higher
- 1910s: Elsie #45, Esther #35 — Esther higher
- 1920s: Elsie #64, Esther #54 — Esther higher
- 1930s: Elsie #112, Esther #97 — Esther higher
- 1940s: Elsie #205, Esther #150 — Esther higher
- 1950s: Elsie #383, Esther #198 — Esther higher
- 1960s: Elsie #633, Esther #281 — Esther higher
- 1970s: Elsie #1001, Esther #324 — Esther higher
- 1980s: Elsie #1191, Esther #280 — Esther higher
- 1990s: Elsie #1212, Esther #302 — Esther higher
- 2000s: Elsie #1010, Esther #285 — Esther higher
- 2010s: Elsie #376, Esther #202 — Esther higher
- 2020s: Elsie #181, Esther #138 — Esther higher
Esther stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Esther has held the lead since the 1900s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Elsie | Esther |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #59 | #91 |
| 1890s | #35 | #43 |
| 1900s | #39 | #35 |
| 1910s | #45 | #35 |
| 1920s | #64 | #54 |
| 1930s | #112 | #97 |
| 1940s | #205 | #150 |
| 1950s | #383 | #198 |
| 1960s | #633 | #281 |
| 1970s | #1001 | #324 |
| 1980s | #1191 | #280 |
| 1990s | #1212 | #302 |
| 2000s | #1010 | #285 |
| 2010s | #376 | #202 |
| 2020s | #181 | #138 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Elsie
- England & Wales#10
- Scotland#21
Esther
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
Elsie
My God is an oath
The name descends from Elizabeth, whose Hebrew original joins the name of God to a word about oaths or abundance — the second half has been argued over for a long time. Some bearers come instead from Alice or from Elspeth, the Scottish form, and the short form does not distinguish them.
Elizabeth → Elspeth → Elsie
How it traveled
The cow came out of a dairy advertising campaign and outgrew it completely, appearing at a world's fair, in films, and on packaging for the better part of a century — at one point more Americans could identify her than could name their own senators. The photographs are stranger.
Esther
Not established
The name may be Persian, from a word for a star, and it may be Babylonian, from the goddess Ishtar; the woman in the book also has a Hebrew name, Hadassah, which means a myrtle. Both explanations have been in circulation for two thousand years and neither can be settled. A name with two candidate origins in two dead languages is in about as difficult a position as etymology gets.
a name that may be Persian or Babylonian → the book of Esther written without a mention of God → Greek editors add prayers to make it acceptable → the Hebrew text is kept as it stands → an American peak at the end of the nineteenth century and a revival now
How it traveled
The argument about the book went on for centuries. It is set entirely in a foreign court, its heroine marries a gentile king, it contains no religious observance of any kind, and the only fragment of Hebrew scripture found at Qumran that is missing is this one.
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
Elsie
EL-see
Two syllables, stress at the front. The s is said as a soft s rather than a z, unlike in Elsa.
- Els — The name without its ending, brisk and current.
- Elle — The front alone, and a complete name in French.
Esther
ESS-tur
Two syllables, stress at the front. The th is said as a plain t in Hebrew and in most European languages, and English is the outlier in sounding it.
- Essie — The warm nineteenth-century short form, currently being rediscovered.
- Ettie — Built from the ending; a complete name of the same period.
Who has carried each name
Elsie
No documented entry for Elsie yet.
Esther
Esther Duflo (b. 1972) — Nobel-winning economist who studies how to fight poverty
Esther Williams (b. 1921) — Swimming champion turned Hollywood's "Million Dollar Mermaid"
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 Elsie if you want…
- a name on the way upup 110 places on the charts in five years
- a name that charts abroad tooElsie is on the national lists of England & Wales and Scotland
Choose Esther if you want…
On the measures here, the records do not separate Esther from Elsie.
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
Elsie
Strengths
- It is short, warm and easy for a small child to say about herself.
- It has a formal name of great standing behind it.
- It is coming back into use after a long absence, which suits a name of this age.
To consider
- The dairy mascot is still the first association for many Americans.
- Elsie, Elsy and Ellsie are all recorded and hers will be written as one of them.
- The spelling is recorded for boys as well, though it belongs overwhelmingly to the girls.
Esther
Strengths
- It is short, established and used without alteration across most of Europe.
- Essie is available and is thoroughly current again.
- It is one of the few biblical women's names with a whole book to itself.
To consider
- There is no settled meaning and two candidate languages.
- It is rising quickly, so it will be commoner among her contemporaries than in the record.
- It reads as a great-grandmother's name to anybody who has not noticed the revival.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Elsie
30%chance Elsie feels dated by 2040
Elsie 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.
Esther
12%chance Esther feels dated by 2040
Esther has held the top-100 across 6 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
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 Elsie and Esther 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 Elsie and Esther?
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
- Vintage names making a comeback
- Grandmother-chic: 1920s names ready to return
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- About to go mainstream: next year's top-100
- Victorian names ready for a second century
- The sweet spot: familiar but not everywhere
- all guides
Every list here names both Elsie and Esther — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Elsie or Esther — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Elsie or Esther?
- Esther, in 2025: Esther ranked #119 with 2,277 babies; Elsie ranked #123 with 2,236 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Elsie or Esther?
- Elsie. Over the last five years Elsie moved up 110 places; Esther moved up 29 places.
- Which is the older name, Elsie or Esther?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Elsie and Esther?
- About 46,500 people named Elsie are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 106,000 people named Esther are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Elsies or Esthers in the classroom?
- Elsie will almost certainly be the only one in school. Esther 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Elsie, Esther and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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