Ellington
Feminine · “the farmstead of Ella's people”
Ellington is given to both — 1,004 girls and 700 boys since 1880. See Ellington as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Ellington is an English village name of the commonest sort — somebody's people, somebody's farm — and it arrives in American ears carrying a great deal of music that has nothing to do with any of that.
How old is the name Ellington?
Ellington first appears in US birth records in 2001 — 24 years ago. The typical Ellington is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,000 people named Ellington are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ellington most popular?
Ellington peaked in 2015, reaching #2209 nationally. Today it ranks #2859, 650 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
From Ellinga tun to Ellington
The story of Ellington
The -ington pattern is Anglo-Saxon administrative geography written down: a leader, his people, and the settlement they held. Ellington was one such place several times over, and families that left them carried the name away as a surname. It reached America and became a given name recently, part of a group of long, formal English place-names — Ellington, Kensington, Addison, Remington — used most often for daughters. Its strongest American association is musical, which arrived in the twentieth century and has stayed put.
Meaning
the farmstead of Ella's people
Old English: the personal name Ella or Elli, with -inga-, marking the people belonging to him, and tun, a farmstead or enclosure. The pattern produced hundreds of English place-names — Kensington, Paddington, Islington — and Ellington appears in Cambridgeshire, Northumberland and Kent. The reading is documented.
How the name formed
- Ellinga tun
- Ellington
Pronouncing Ellington
EL-ing-tun
Three syllables, stress on the first. There is no ambiguity in the sound; the name is long rather than difficult.
Nicknames for Ellington
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
- 2001
- Most girls named
- 201585 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2209reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- +34.1%59 in 2025, from 44
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.
Ellington in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee.
Ellingtons among us
people named Ellington are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 27,242 born in 2025 was named Ellington
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 Kadija test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ellington's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kadija climbed just as high around 1994, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kadija's path sketches the road Ellington is walking now.
Ellington 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 Ellington is headed
Ellington is easing off slowly — about 19% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Ellington beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ellington in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Ellie is a ready and very widely used short form, which a three-syllable name needs.
- A documented English place-name rather than an assembled sound.
- Three syllables give it formality, with an easy everyday form underneath.
- The musical association is strong and will arrive before the child does.
- Three syllables mean it will almost always be shortened to Ellie in practice.
- It is unmistakably a surname and will be read as one on forms.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Ellington
Feminine · #2859 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ellingtons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Ellington are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ellington in 2025?
- Ellington ranks #2859 among US girl names in 2025, with 59 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ellington?
- About 1 in every 27,242 US girls born in 2025 was named Ellington — 59 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ellington with classmates?
- Ellington will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ellington
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emilly#2859 · Pyper#2859 · Amarie#2859 · Luci#2859 · Issa#2859 · Azaliah#2859 · Malinda#2859 · Kyah#2859
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ellington? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ellington and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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