Elwood
Masculine · “elder-tree wood”
Elwood is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 20,786 boys against 53 girls since 1880.
Elwood is an elder wood. It is one of the plainest English place names there is — a tree and a stand of them — and it became a surname before it became anybody's first name.
How old is the name Elwood?
Elwood was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Elwood alive today was born around 1927, making them about 98 years old. About 5,300 people named Elwood are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elwood most popular?
Elwood peaked in 1915, reaching #204 nationally. Today it ranks #1919, 1,715 places below that high. See the whole 1915 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From ellern + wudu to Elwood
The story of Elwood
Elwood is an English place and surname, and like a great many English surnames it crossed into American given-name use in the nineteenth century. It was used steadily through the period when Elmer, Elmo, Elbert and Elwood were all in circulation together, and it peaked in American records around 1915.
Meaningscholars disagree
elder-tree wood
The usual reading takes it from the Old English ellern, 'elder tree', and wudu, 'wood'. Some Elwoods instead derive from a personal name plus wudu, or from Ellwood, 'old wood'. The wudu element is secure; the first is not.
How the name formed
- ellern + wudu
- Elwood
Related forms: Ellwood · Elwyn
Pronouncing Elwood
EL-wuud
Two syllables, stress on the first. Both elements are ordinary English words.
Nicknames for Elwood
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 boys named
- 1921613 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #204reached in 1915
- Change vs 2022
- +88.4%81 in 2025, from 43
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.
Elwood in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ellwood in English — spelling variant
- Elwyn in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Washington, Illinois.
Elwoods among us
people named Elwood are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 21,087 born in 2025 was named Elwood
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Elwood is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Elwood is headed
Elwood looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 20% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. 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.
Elwood beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elwood in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is concrete and easy to picture.
- Woody is a warm and distinctive short form.
- It belongs to a coherent family of El- names of its period.
- The first element is genuinely ambiguous.
- A well-known film character has carried the name since 1980.
- It is strongly period-coded to the early twentieth century.
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What they receive
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Elwood
Masculine · #1919 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elwoods are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 5,300 people named Elwood are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Elwood in 2025?
- Elwood ranks #1919 among US boy names in 2025, with 81 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elwood?
- About 1 in every 21,087 US boys born in 2025 was named Elwood — 81 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elwood with classmates?
- Elwood will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elwood
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lou#1919 · Hendrick#1919 · Azari#1919 · Karsen#1919 · Asad#1919 · Mikel#1919 · Jawad#1919 · Rumi#1919
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elwood? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elwood and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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