Ellie
Feminine
Ellie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 105,677 girls against 1,180 boys since 1880. See Ellie as a boy name
Ellie has outgrown every full name it was cut from. Eleanor, Elizabeth, Ella and Eloise are all still in use and none of them is anywhere near it; the pet form has become the name, and a great many Ellies have nothing longer on the certificate at all.
How old is the name Ellie?
Ellie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Ellie is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 102,000 people named Ellie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ellie most popular?
Ellie peaked in 2024, reaching #21 nationally. Today it ranks #24, 3 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Ellie appears on these lists:
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- Vowel names: soft starts from A to O
- Gorgeous — and about to be everywhere
- Generation Alpha names (born 2013 onward)
- Two-syllable names, the American default
- all guides
Works in French families too:
Where it comes from
From Eleanor to Ellie
The story of Ellie
That reversal is one of the largest quiet changes in English-speaking naming. For most of recorded history a pet form was something a child was called and a full name was what went on the certificate, and the two were not confused; over the last fifty years the pet form has increasingly become the registered name, so that the records now hold hundreds of thousands of children with no formal version to grow into. Ellie, Charlie, Alfie, Millie, Archie and Freddie are all in that position. Whether that matters is a genuine question rather than a rhetorical one: a formal name is a resource a person can use later, and the argument for having one is that adult life sometimes wants it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
It depends on which full name is behind it, and increasingly there is none. Eleanor's own origin has never been settled; Elizabeth is a Hebrew sentence about an oath; Ella is Germanic and means something like other or all. A pet form drops exactly the material that would tell you which, and a pet form used alone has no meaning at all.
Cultural footprint
Ellie Goulding (b. 1986) — "Lights" and "Love Me Like You Do" hitmaker
Ellie Kemper (b. 1980) — Star of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and The Office
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Eleanor
- Ellie
Pronouncing Ellie
EL-ee
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The doubled l keeps the vowel short, which is doing real work: a single l would leave it long and produce a different name.
Nicknames for Ellie
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
- 20256,176 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #21reached in 2024
- Change vs 2022
- +6.7%6,176 in 2025, from 5,787
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.
Ellie in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from Statistics Canada, National Records of Scotland, INSEE, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Ellies among us
people named Ellie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 260 born in 2025 was named Ellie
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 Janice test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ellie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Janice climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Janice's path sketches the road Ellie is walking now.
Ellie is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Ellie is headed
Ellie 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.
Ellie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ellie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Short, warm and among the easiest names in English for a small child to say.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- Several long formal names sit behind it if a family wants one on the certificate.
- It is a pet form used as a full name, which leaves nothing more formal underneath.
- It is currently extremely popular, which means a classroom is likely to hold more than one.
- Elly, Elli and Ellee all exist for the same sound.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ellie to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Ellie
Feminine · #24 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ellies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 102,000 people named Ellie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ellie in 2025?
- Ellie ranks #24 among US girl names in 2025, with 6,176 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Ellie?
- About 1 in every 260 US girls born in 2025 was named Ellie — 6,176 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ellie with classmates?
- Ellie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ellie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lucy#24 · Chloe#23 · Aria#26 · Penelope#22 · Luna#27 · Hazel#21 · Isla#28 · Nora#20
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ellie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ellie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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