Ellinor
Feminine
Ellinor is one of the older English spellings of Eleanor, and it is also the standard Scandinavian one, still ordinary in Sweden. The name arrived in England in the twelfth century with a duchess of Aquitaine who became queen of France and then of England, and it has never entirely left since.
How old is the name Ellinor?
Ellinor first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Ellinor is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 600 people named Ellinor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ellinor most popular?
Ellinor peaked in 1898, reaching #1379 nationally. Today it ranks #4758, 3,379 places below that high. See the whole 1898 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aliénor to Ellinor
The story of Ellinor
Alienor of Aquitaine brought the name from the south of France to the English court in the twelfth century, and English adapted it to Eleanor, Elinor, Ellinor and Elianora over the following centuries. It was among the names that stayed steadily in use through the Middle Ages, went out of fashion in the eighteenth century and came back in the nineteenth. Scandinavian languages standardized on Ellinor, which is why the spelling is ordinary in Sweden and Norway and unusual almost everywhere else.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Old French Alienor has no accepted etymology. A Provencal phrase meaning the other Aenor, for a daughter named after her mother, is the story usually told and is almost certainly a later invention. Attempts to derive it from Germanic or Arabic elements have not held. Light is often printed as the meaning and rests on a confusion with Helen, which is a different name.
How the name formed
- Aliénor
- Elianora
- Eleanor
- Ellinor
Related forms: Eleanor · Ellinor · Éléonore · Leonor · Eleonora · Eleonore
Pronouncing Ellinor
EL-ih-nor
Three syllables, stress in front, said the same as Eleanor. Swedish gives the last syllable more weight than English does.
Nicknames for Ellinor
High
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 201837 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1379reached in 1898
- Change vs 2024
- −6.7%28 in 2025, from 30
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.
Ellinor in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eleanor in English — spelling variant
- Ellinor in Swedish — same name
- Éléonore in French — same name
- Leonor in Spanish — same name
- Eleonora in Italian — same name
- Eleonore in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Washington, California, Michigan.
Ellinors among us
people named Ellinor are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 57,402 born in 2025 was named Ellinor
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ellinor
- #4758
- Ellinor on the 2025 chart
- #779
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ellinor went to 28 girls in 2025, but Elinor and Elynor are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 181, which makes it the 779th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,979 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 8,880 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 57,402 for Ellinor 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
Fashion outlook
Ellinor 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 Ellinor is headed
Ellinor should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Ellinor beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ellinor in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It offers four genuine short forms, Nell and Nora and Ellie and Lena, all complete names elsewhere.
- It carries a documented royal history running back to the twelfth century.
- The Scandinavian spelling gives it a real home rather than being a modern respelling.
- Eleanor is the standard English spelling and this one will be corrected on American forms.
- Its meaning has never been established, so a child looking it up will find several confident and wrong answers.
- Ellie is currently very widely used, so the everyday form will not be distinctive.
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Ellinor
Feminine · #4758 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ellinors are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Ellinor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ellinor?
- Ellinor is one of 3 recorded spellings. Elinor is the more common one — 142 births in 2025 against 28 for Ellinor.
- How popular is the name Ellinor in 2025?
- Ellinor ranks #4758 among US girl names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ellinor?
- About 1 in every 57,402 US girls born in 2025 was named Ellinor — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ellinor with classmates?
- Ellinor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ellinor
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marylou#4758 · Landon#4758 · Lexa#4758 · Alysia#4758 · Ixchel#4758 · Parisa#4758 · Jumana#4758 · Berenice#4758
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ellinor? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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