Ellington
Masculine · “settlement of Ella's people”
Ellington is given to both — 700 boys and 1,004 girls since 1880. See Ellington as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Ellington is an English place name — a settlement belonging to a man called Ella, or to his people — and it carries one of the greatest names in American music.
How old is the name Ellington?
Ellington first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Ellington is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Ellington are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ellington most popular?
Ellington peaked in 2016, reaching #2661 nationally. Today it ranks #4139, 1,478 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ella ingas tun to Ellington
The story of Ellington
Ellingtons are in Huntingdonshire, Northumberland, Kent and elsewhere, all built on the same formula. The surname reached America with English settlement. Duke Ellington, born Edward Kennedy Ellington in 1899, made the surname internationally known, and the given name's American use follows him almost entirely — it appears in the records from the 2000s.
Meaning
settlement of Ella's people
From an Old English personal name Ella, the connective -ing meaning the people of, and tun, a farmstead; the -ington pattern names dozens of English villages and is one of the oldest place-name formulas in the language.
How the name formed
- Ella ingas tun
- Ellington
Related forms: Ellingham · Elton
Pronouncing Ellington
EL-ing-tun
Three syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
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
- 1921
- Most boys named
- 201646 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2661reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- +31.6%25 in 2025, from 19
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
The same name elsewhere
- Ellingham in English — related form
- Elton in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Virginia.
Ellingtons among us
people named Ellington are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 68,323 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 Levone 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: Levone climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Levone'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 20% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium 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 boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled place-name meaning built on one of the oldest English formulas.
- A genuinely great musician stands behind the modern use.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It reads as a surname to people meeting it in front of another one.
- Nine letters and three syllables is a great deal for early handwriting.
- The musical association is total and will be mentioned every time.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Ellington
Masculine · #4139 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 700 people named Ellington are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Ellington in 2025?
- Ellington ranks #4139 among US boy names in 2025, with 25 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ellington?
- About 1 in every 68,323 US boys born in 2025 was named Ellington — 25 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.
Mose#4139 · Lucious#4139 · Karsten#4139 · Nikita#4139 · Hasani#4139 · Jomar#4139 · Fionn#4139 · Earnest#4139
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ellington? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ellington 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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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