Elaine
Feminine
Elaine is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 262,890 girls against 653 boys since 1880. See Elaine as a boy name
Elaine reached English through French romance rather than through the church calendar, which is unusual for a name of this age and explains why it has no feast day and no saint. A Paris avenue with a similar opening is named after the Greek afterlife, which is a stranger thing to name a street than most people notice.
How old is the name Elaine?
Elaine was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elaine alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 155,000 people named Elaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elaine most popular?
Elaine peaked in 1938, reaching #42 nationally. Today it ranks #304, 262 places below that high. See the whole 1938 chart.
Where it comes from
From Helene to Elaine
Our story of Elaine
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. Later writers moved it underground and attached it to judgment. The Paris avenue got the name in the seventeenth century, when the marshy ground west of the Tuileries was laid out as a promenade and given a classical title in the fashion of the time. So the address of the presidential palace and the finish of the Tour de France is, in the original, the field where the dead lie about in perpetual mild weather.
Meaningnot established
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.
How the name formed
- Helene
- Elaine
Related forms: Élaine · Helen
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Elaine
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most girls named
- 19477,059 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #42reached in 1938
- Change vs 2022
- +47.0%1,007 in 2025, from 685
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Elaine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Élaine in French — same name
- Helen in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Elaines among us
people named Elaine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,596 born in 2025 was named Elaine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marion test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elaine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marion climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marion's path sketches the road Elaine is walking now.
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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Elaine is headed
Elaine looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Elaine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elaine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- 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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Elaine to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Elaine
Feminine · #304 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elaines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 155,000 people named Elaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elaine in 2025?
- Elaine ranks #304 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,007 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elaine?
- About 1 in every 1,596 US girls born in 2025 was named Elaine — 1,007 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elaine with classmates?
- Elaine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elaine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Adelina#304 · Daniela#302 · Joanna#306 · Kimberly#302 · Francesca#307 · Evelynn#301 · Octavia#308 · Sylvia#300
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elaine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elaine and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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