Eldon
Masculine · “Ella's hill”
Eldon is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 26,102 boys against 55 girls since 1880.
Eldon is Ella's hill — a Durham place name with an Anglo-Saxon personal name inside it, which became a surname, an earldom and finally a first name.
How old is the name Eldon?
Eldon first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Eldon alive today was born around 1935, making them about 90 years old. About 9,100 people named Eldon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Eldon most popular?
Eldon peaked in 1927, reaching #209 nationally. Today it ranks #2304, 2,095 places below that high. See the whole 1927 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ella + dun to Eldon
The story of Eldon
Eldon in County Durham gave its name to the earldom held by John Scott, Lord Chancellor of England for a quarter of a century in the early nineteenth century — a figure prominent enough that American families used the name. It crossed into given-name use in that period and peaked in American records around 1918, alongside Elwood, Elmer and Elbert.
Meaningscholars disagree
Ella's hill
From the County Durham place name Eldon, generally read as an Old English personal name Ella plus dun, 'hill'. Some accounts give the first element as a word meaning 'elder tree' or 'holy'. The dun element is secure; the first is argued about.
How the name formed
- Ella + dun
- Eldon
Related forms: Elden · Eldin
Pronouncing Eldon
EL-dun
Two syllables, stress on the first. No variation between English accents.
Nicknames for Eldon
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
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 1926647 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #209reached in 1927
- Change vs 2022
- −9.1%60 in 2025, from 66
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.
Eldon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elden in English — spelling variant
- Eldin in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Washington, Illinois.
Eldons among us
people named Eldon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 28,468 born in 2025 was named Eldon
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 Hyman test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Eldon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Hyman climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Hyman's path sketches the road Eldon is walking now.
Eldon 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 Eldon is headed
Eldon should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Eldon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Eldon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented English place and earldom stand behind it.
- El and Don are two short forms with quite different feels.
- Two firm syllables that pair well with almost any surname.
- The first element of the place name is genuinely disputed.
- It is strongly period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Eldon
Masculine · #2304 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eldons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,100 people named Eldon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Eldon in 2025?
- Eldon ranks #2304 among US boy names in 2025, with 60 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Eldon?
- About 1 in every 28,468 US boys born in 2025 was named Eldon — 60 in all.
- Will my child share the name Eldon with classmates?
- Eldon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Eldon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zian#2304 · Avion#2304 · Lex#2304 · Joab#2304 · Ahmari#2304 · Daxon#2304 · Enoc#2304 · Paris#2304
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Eldon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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