Ellise
Feminine · “Hebrew Eliyahu”
Nobody's name was changed at Ellis Island. The inspectors worked from manifests written at the port of departure and did not record names themselves; the story of the clerk who could not spell and invented a new surname is one of the most persistent myths in American family history.
How old is the name Ellise?
Ellise first appears in US birth records in 1918 — 107 years ago. The typical Ellise alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 800 people named Ellise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Ellise most popular?
Ellise peaked in 2004, reaching #3819 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 5,638 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Eliyahu to Ellise
The story of Ellise
The station on Ellis Island processed twelve million arrivals between 1892 and 1954, and the myth that it renamed them is comprehensively false. Passenger manifests were written by shipping company clerks at the port of departure, in the passenger's own language and often by a fellow countryman, and the inspectors at Ellis Island checked arrivals against those lists rather than writing anything down. Most inspectors were themselves immigrants and the station employed interpreters covering dozens of languages. Names did change, extensively, but they changed afterwards and usually by the family's own decision: to be pronounceable, to get work, to sound American. The island itself is named for Samuel Ellis, a merchant who owned it in the 1770s, which is a more ordinary story than the one attached to it.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew Eliyahu, my God is Yah
Ellise is a respelling of Elise or of Ellis. Elise is a French short form of Elisabeth. Ellis is a separate surname from Elias, the Greek form of Elijah, Hebrew Eliyahu, my God is Yah. The two have converged in American spelling and the record does not separate them. The peak is 2004.
How the name formed
- Eliyahu
- Elias
- Ellis
- Ellise
Related forms: Elise · Elyse · Elis
Pronouncing Ellise
eh-LEES
Two syllables, stress on the second. Ellise, Elise and Elyse are homophones. The doubled l invites a short first vowel, which is how most Americans say it.
Nicknames for Ellise
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
- 1918
- Most girls named
- 200437 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3819reached in 2004
- Change vs 2024
- −16.7%10 in 2025, from 12
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.
Ellise in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Elise in French — related form
- Elyse in English — spelling variant
- Elis in Welsh — related form
Ellises among us
people named Ellise are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Ellise
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Ellise
- #9457
- Ellise on the 2025 chart
- #193
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Ellise went to 10 girls in 2025, but Elise, Elyse and Elize and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 1,700, which makes it the 193rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 9,264 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 945 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 160,727 for Ellise 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 Elita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Ellise's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elita climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elita's path sketches the road Ellise is walking now.
Ellise 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
Ellise beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Ellise in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Elle works as a short form and is a name in its own right.
- The stressed ending gives it a firm final beat.
- Elise is available as the standard spelling.
- Elise and Elyse are both commoner.
- It is easily confused with the surname Ellis.
- Several spellings compete for the same sound.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Ellise to the vote.
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What they receive
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Ellise
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ellises are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Ellise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Ellise?
- Ellise is one of 5 recorded spellings. Elise is the more common one — 1,367 births in 2025 against 10 for Ellise.
- How popular is the name Ellise in 2025?
- Ellise ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Ellise?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Ellise — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Ellise with classmates?
- Ellise will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Ellise
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Ellise? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Ellise and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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