Elda
Feminine
Elda is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 8,970 girls against 42 boys since 1880.
Elda stood inside the American top three hundred and eighty in 1895, which is high for a name almost nobody now recognizes. It is Italian, and it is short: a clipping of Griselda, Imelda or Hilda, all of which are Germanic names that Italy absorbed and kept. Its American peak sits exactly with the first great wave of Italian arrival.
How old is the name Elda?
Elda was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elda alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 3,000 people named Elda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elda most popular?
Elda peaked in 1895, reaching #379 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 5,538 places below that high. See the whole 1895 chart.
Where it comes from
From hild to Elda
Our story of Elda
Italy has an unusual relationship with Germanic names, and Elda is a good place to see it. The Lombards ruled much of Italy for two hundred years and left a substantial stock of names behind — Aldo, Alberto, Adelaide, Griselda, Imelda, Rolando — which Italian then treated as thoroughly its own. By the nineteenth century nobody thought of them as foreign, and Italian naming did to them what it does to every long name: it clipped them. Elda, Alda, Nilde, Ilde and Elda all come off the back of longer Germanic compounds, and each became a name in its own right. That is why a name that looks like a modern invention is in fact the surviving tail of a thousand-year-old compound about battle. The Italian record for these clippings is strongest between 1880 and 1920, which is exactly when the American record for Elda peaks — a straightforward consequence of who was arriving.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The meaning depends on which name it was clipped from, and that varies by family. Griselda is Germanic, from gris, 'grey', and hild, 'battle'. Imelda is from irmin, 'whole, universal', and hild again. Hilda is hild alone. All three end in the same element, which is why all three produce Elda. A separate Italian tradition treats Elda as a form of Hilda directly. The battle element is the only part common to every route.
How the name formed
- hild
- Griselda
- Elda
Related forms: Elda · Elda · Imelda · Hilda
Pronouncing Elda
EL-dah
Two syllables, stress on the first, with a short e and an open final a in Italian and Spanish. English speakers reduce the final vowel to a schwa, EL-duh, which is the usual American version.
Nicknames for Elda
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
- 1916250 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #379reached in 1895
- Change vs 2022
- +122.2%20 in 2025, from 9
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.
Elda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elda in Italian — same name
- Elda in Spanish — same name
- Imelda in Italian — related form
- Hilda in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Eldas among us
people named Elda are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Elda
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Elda 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Elda beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elda in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters, two syllables, and readable in Italian, Spanish and English alike.
- It is a genuine historical name rather than a modern coinage, despite looking modern.
- Griselda, Imelda and Hilda are all available as longer forms if one is wanted.
- The meaning depends entirely on which longer name a family clipped it from.
- It is close to Elsa, Edda and Zelda, and will be misheard as one of them.
- Its American curve is late-nineteenth-century, which places a bearer's generation.
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What they receive
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Elda
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eldas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,000 people named Elda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elda in 2025?
- Elda ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elda?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Elda — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elda with classmates?
- Elda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elda
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Klarissa#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elda? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elda and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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