Elgin
Masculine · “Gaelic Eilginn”
Elgin is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,959 boys against 43 girls since 1880.
The Elgin Marbles are named after the man who took them. Thomas Bruce, seventh Earl of Elgin, removed about half the surviving Parthenon sculpture between 1801 and 1812, and the argument about whether he should have has been running for two hundred years.
How old is the name Elgin?
Elgin first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Elgin alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 2,300 people named Elgin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elgin most popular?
Elgin peaked in 1890, reaching #629 nationally. Today it ranks #9714, 9,085 places below that high. See the whole 1890 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Eilginn to Elgin
The story of Elgin
Lord Elgin was British ambassador to the Ottoman Porte, which then ruled Greece, and obtained a document permitting his agents to work on the Acropolis; what exactly it authorized is contested, since the Italian translation that survives is not the original. Between 1801 and 1812 they removed roughly half the surviving sculpture, including much of the frieze and several metopes, shipped it to Britain at enormous personal cost, and after a parliamentary inquiry it was bought for the British Museum in 1816 for well under what he had spent. Byron attacked him savagely in print. The Greek government has requested the return of the sculptures formally since 1983 and the museum has refused. The name of a Scottish burgh is therefore attached permanently to one of the longest-running disputes in cultural property.
Meaningscholars disagree
Gaelic Eilginn, of uncertain meaning
Elgin is a town in Moray in north-east Scotland and the title of a Scottish earldom. The place name's origin is not established; a connection to a word meaning little Ireland has been proposed and is disputed. The American peak of the given name is 1890.
How the name formed
- Eilginn
- Elgin
Related forms: Eilginn
Pronouncing Elgin
EL-gin
Two syllables, stress on the first. The g is hard in the Scottish town and the title, though many English and American speakers say EL-jin.
Nicknames for Elgin
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
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 197067 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #629reached in 1890
- Change vs 2022
- −22.2%7 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.
Elgin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eilginn in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Elgins among us
people named Elgin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 244,011 born in 2025 was named Elgin
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
Elgin 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
Elgin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elgin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- El works as a short form.
- It is a genuine Scottish place name and title.
- Two syllables with a firm first-syllable stress.
- The g is said hard in Scotland and soft by many Americans.
- It is attached to a long-running cultural dispute.
- The 1890 peak places it deep in the nineteenth century.
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What they receive
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Elgin
Masculine · #9714 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elgins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Elgin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elgin in 2025?
- Elgin ranks #9714 among US boy names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elgin?
- About 1 in every 244,011 US boys born in 2025 was named Elgin — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elgin with classmates?
- Elgin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elgin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vern#9714 · Abrahm#9714 · Sid#9714 · Hartwell#9714 · Kwan#9714 · Adrean#9714 · Chancey#9714 · Bob#9714
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elgin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elgin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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