Elijah
Feminine · “Hebrew "my God is Yahweh”
Elijah is given to boys far more often — 380,611 boys against 1,304 girls since 1880. See Elijah as a boy name
Elijah is a sentence, and a combative one. Eliyahu means my God is Yahweh — a statement made against the worship of Baal, which is precisely the argument the prophet spends his career having. It is one of the few biblical names that reads as a position rather than a description.
How old is the name Elijah?
Elijah first appears in US birth records in 1926 — 99 years ago. The typical Elijah alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 1,300 people named Elijah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elijah most popular?
Elijah peaked in 2004, reaching #2264 nationally. Today it ranks #7133, 4,869 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Where it comes from
From אֵלִיָּהוּ (Eliyahu) to Elijah
The story of Elijah
Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, is fed by ravens, hears God in a still small voice rather than in wind or earthquake, and is taken up in a whirlwind — a departure that made him the figure expected to return before the day of the Lord. That expectation gave him a permanent place in Jewish practice, where a cup is set for him at Passover, and in Christian tradition. The name became enormously popular for American boys after 1990. The small female use, peaking in 2004, follows the general availability of -ah endings to American girls, since Elijah ends the way Sarah, Hannah and Aaliyah do.
Meaning
Hebrew "my God is Yahweh"
From eli, my God, and yahu, a short form of the divine name. Hebrew forms many names this way — Yeshayahu, Yirmeyahu, Netanyahu — and Eliyahu is the sharpest of them because it asserts an identity between two words for God at a moment when that identity was being contested. The etymology is entirely settled.
How the name formed
- אֵלִיָּהוּEliyahu
- Elias
- Elijah
Related forms: אֵלִיָּהוּ · Ἠλίας (Elias) · إلياس (Ilyas) · Elías · Илья (Ilya)
Pronouncing Elijah
ih-LYE-juh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. Hebrew gives eh-lee-YAH-hoo, four syllables with final stress and a different shape entirely. The English form comes through Latin and has been fixed for centuries.
Nicknames for Elijah
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
- 1926
- Most girls named
- 200477 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2264reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- −42.3%15 in 2025, from 26
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.
Elijah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- אֵלִיָּהוּ in Hebrew — same name
- Ἠλίας (Elias) in Greek — same name
- إلياس (Ilyas) in Arabic — same name
- Elías in Spanish — same name
- Илья (Ilya) in Russian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Pennsylvania.
Elijahs among us
people named Elijah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 107,151 born in 2025 was named Elijah
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 Alan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elijah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Alan climbed just as high around 1962, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Alan's path sketches the road Elijah is walking now.
Elijah 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
Elijah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elijah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The etymology is settled and unusually pointed — a sentence, not a description.
- The prophet is a major figure in Judaism, Christianity and Islam alike.
- Ellie and Eli are both available, one female-reading and one unisex.
- It is a top-ten American boys' name and will be read as male everywhere.
- The biblical prophet is male, and the name is a first-person statement by him.
- Forms and systems will consistently assume the wrong sex.
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What they receive
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Elijah
Feminine · #7133 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elijahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Elijah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elijah in 2025?
- Elijah ranks #7133 among US girl names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elijah?
- About 1 in every 107,151 US girls born in 2025 was named Elijah — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elijah with classmates?
- Elijah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elijah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Pennie#7133 · Zina#7133 · Elzie#7133 · Rosabel#7133 · Adelene#7133 · Cruz#7133 · Kansas#7133 · Ione#7133
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elijah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elijah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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