Ellen
Feminine
Ellen is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 275,284 girls against 745 boys since 1880. See Ellen as a boy name
Ellen is one of the oldest women's names in English, recorded here for boys as well as girls. One woman who carried it dominated the English stage for a generation and conducted a famous correspondence with a man she barely met.
How old is the name Ellen?
Ellen was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ellen alive today was born around 1948, making them about 77 years old. About 156,000 people named Ellen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ellen most popular?
Ellen peaked in 1946, reaching #58 nationally. Today it ranks #1062, 1,004 places below that high. See the whole 1946 chart.
Where it comes from
From Helene to Ellen
Our story of Ellen
Ellen Terry played Shakespeare's heroines in London for decades and was, by common consent, the most beloved performer in England. Her letters with Bernard Shaw ran for about thirty years and are one of the great correspondences in English: flirtatious, argumentative, professionally acute, and conducted almost entirely on paper, since they arranged repeatedly not to meet in order not to spoil it. She had a difficult life offstage, with an early marriage at sixteen to a painter thirty years older, a disappearance from the stage for six years, and two children raised alone. She went back to work and stayed there into her seventies.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Ellen descends from Helen, whose Greek origin is argued over and is probably pre-Greek. English has treated Helen, Ellen and Elaine as three names for so long that they function as three.
How the name formed
- Helene
- Elena
- Ellen
Related forms: Ellen · Elleke
Pronouncing Ellen
EL-un
Two syllables with the stress in front. There is nothing in it to get wrong.
Nicknames for Ellen
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
- 19515,945 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #58reached in 1946
- Change vs 2022
- −9.8%230 in 2025, from 255
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.
Ellen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ellen in Swedish — same name
- Elleke in Dutch — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Ellens among us
people named Ellen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 6,988 born in 2025 was named Ellen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ellen
- #1062
- Ellen on the 2025 chart
- #693
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ellen went to 230 girls in 2025, but Eleen and Elen are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 273, which makes it the 693rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 369 places above the chart.
- Ellen230
- Eleen35
- Elen8
About 1 girl in 5,887 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 6,988 for Ellen itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Willie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ellen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Willie climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Willie's path sketches the road Ellen is walking now.
Ellen has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ellen is headed
Ellen should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Ellen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ellen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a continuous documented history in English going back many centuries.
- Nell and Ellie are both available as short forms and both are established names.
- Five letters and two syllables: nobody has ever had to have it spelled twice.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to girls but is recorded for boys as well, so a form will occasionally guess wrong.
- Helen and Elena are close relatives and the three get confused in conversation.
- The underlying Greek name has no settled meaning, so that question has no firm answer.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ellen
Feminine · #1062 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ellens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 156,000 people named Ellen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ellen?
- Ellen is the most-used spelling in US records — 230 of the 273 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Eleen and Elen.
- How popular is the name Ellen in 2025?
- Ellen ranks #1062 among US girl names in 2025, with 230 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ellen?
- About 1 in every 6,988 US girls born in 2025 was named Ellen — 230 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ellen with classmates?
- Ellen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ellen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kalia#1063 · Dania#1063 · Dua#1060 · Giavanna#1060 · Casey#1065 · Liyana#1059 · Jalani#1065 · Chiara#1065
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ellen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ellen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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