Elder
Masculine · “the elder of two”
Elder is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,268 boys against 52 girls since 1880.
Elder began as the plainest kind of distinction: in an English village with two men of the same name, one of them was the elder. It carries that unhurried, weathered sound still, and it is one of the few names that is also an ordinary English word a child meets on the first page of any story.
How old is the name Elder?
Elder was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elder alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,500 people named Elder are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elder most popular?
Elder peaked in 1899, reaching #548 nationally. Today it ranks #2718, 2,170 places below that high. See the whole 1899 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ealdra to Elder
The story of Elder
It comes out of medieval England, where surnames were still being made from whatever distinguished a man from his neighbor — his trade, his father, his corner of the parish. Elder settled on those who were the older of two, and separately on the families by the elder hedge. Both lines crossed the Atlantic as surnames, and American parents did with it what they have done with hundreds of English surnames: moved it to the front of the name and let it start again.
Meaningscholars disagree
the elder of two — or one who lived by the elder trees
Two English surnames arrived at the same spelling. One is Old English ealdra, the comparative of eald, 'old' — the elder of two men who shared a name in one parish. The other belonged to households whose houses stood beside elder trees. Both are documented and neither cancels the other; the first is the more common.
How the name formed
- ealdra
- Elder
Pronouncing Elder
EL-der
One unremarkable pronunciation on both sides of the Atlantic. Nobody will need it spelled twice.
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 boys named
- 200756 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #548reached in 1899
- Change vs 2022
- +14.6%47 in 2025, from 41
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.
Elder in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Elders among us
people named Elder are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 36,342 born in 2025 was named Elder
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
Elder 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
Where Elder is headed
Elder looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 21% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium 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.
Elder beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elder in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds and already familiar as an English word, so it is almost never misspelled or mispronounced.
- A surname-name with a documented medieval record behind it rather than a recent invention.
- No obvious short form, which suits a family that wants the whole name used.
- It is an ordinary adjective meaning older, and the joke about that will be made more than once.
- Elder is also a title of office — for missionaries in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and for lay leaders in several Protestant churches — so introductions can carry an echo of that.
- With no natural nickname there is nowhere to retreat if the full name ever feels heavy.
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What they receive
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Elder
Masculine · #2718 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elders are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Elder are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elder in 2025?
- Elder ranks #2718 among US boy names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elder?
- About 1 in every 36,342 US boys born in 2025 was named Elder — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elder with classmates?
- Elder will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elder
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Einar#2718 · Kurtis#2718 · Sasha#2718 · Jovany#2718 · Ahsan#2718 · Xavien#2718 · Yassin#2718 · Unknown#2718
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elder? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elder and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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