Elyas
Masculine · “my God is the Lord”
Elyas is the prophet's name written the way it sounds in Arabic and French — the same name that reaches English as Elias and Elijah. It has been spoken for close to three thousand years, carried through Hebrew scripture, Greek translation and the Quran, where the prophet Ilyas is named directly. In the mouth it splits neatly into three, ending on a soft hiss that keeps it from ever sounding blunt.
How old is the name Elyas?
Elyas first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Elyas is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,100 people named Elyas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Elyas most popular?
Elyas peaked in 2024, reaching #1224 nationally. Today it ranks #1263, 39 places below that high. See the whole 2024 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Eliyahu to Elyas
The story of Elyas
The name begins as Hebrew Eliyahu, borne by the prophet of the Book of Kings. When Jewish scripture was translated into Greek, it became Elias, and that is the form that spread through Latin, and from there into most of Christian Europe. Arabic took it as Ilyas, and the prophet appears under that name in the Quran, which carried the name across North Africa, Turkey, Persia and South Asia. Elyas is one of the transliterations that emerged from that Arabic line — widely used in French-speaking Muslim families in France, Belgium and the Maghreb, and from there into English-speaking records.
Meaning
my God is the Lord
From Hebrew Eliyahu, joining the elements El and Yah, both names of God.
How the name formed
- Eliyahu
- Elias
- Ilyas
- Elyas
Related forms: Ilyas · Elias · Elijah · İlyas · Elías · Ilya
Pronouncing Elyas
ee-LY-as
Also commonly said il-YAHS, closer to the Arabic, or eh-LEE-as in Spanish and German-influenced families. All three are correct for this spelling; whichever you use at home, expect to say it twice to new people.
Nicknames for Elyas
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
- 1988
- Most boys named
- 2024164 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1224reached in 2024
- Change vs 2024
- −4.9%156 in 2025, from 164
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.
Elyas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ilyas in Arabic — transliteration
- Elias in Greek / Latin — same name
- Elijah in English — related form
- İlyas in Turkish — same name
- Elías in Spanish — same name
- Ilya in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Elyass among us
people named Elyas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 10,949 born in 2025 was named Elyas
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Elyas
- #1263
- Elyas on the 2025 chart
- #16
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Elyas went to 156 boys in 2025, but Elias is the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 9,081, which makes it the 16th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,247 places above the chart.
- Elias8,837
- Elyas156
and 3 rarer spellings.
About 1 boy in 188 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 10,949 for Elyas 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 Daylan test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Elyas's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Daylan climbed just as high around 2003, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Daylan's path sketches the road Elyas is walking now.
Elyas 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 Elyas is headed
Elyas looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 19% 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.
Elyas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Elyas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Immediately recognizable as a form of Elias and Elijah, so nobody will need the name explained to them, even if the spelling is new to them.
- Ready-made short form in Eli, which needs no teaching and works in every English-speaking setting.
- Works across Arabic, French, Turkish and English without translation — the same name in each, only lightly respelled.
- One of the longest unbroken naming lines there is, running from Hebrew scripture through Greek and Latin into the Quran.
- Rare enough in US records that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate, while never sounding invented.
- The y will be corrected. Elias and Elijah are far better known in the US, so expect a lifetime of spelling it out and of forms coming back wrong.
- There is no single agreed pronunciation across languages — ee-LY-as, il-YAHS and eh-LEE-as all belong to this spelling. That is workable, but you will be choosing which one is yours.
- In US records this spelling is a recent arrival compared with Elias, so most people carrying it here are still young. The name itself is ancient; the American familiarity with this particular form is still building.
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Elyas
Masculine · #1263 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Elyass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Elyas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Elyas?
- Elyas is one of 2 recorded spellings. Elias is the more common one — 8,837 births in 2025 against 156 for Elyas.
- How popular is the name Elyas in 2025?
- Elyas ranks #1263 among US boy names in 2025, with 156 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Elyas?
- About 1 in every 10,949 US boys born in 2025 was named Elyas — 156 in all.
- Will my child share the name Elyas with classmates?
- Elyas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Elyas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Riot#1263 · Lael#1263 · Ripley#1263 · Jordy#1260 · Monroe#1260 · Emrys#1260 · Jahseh#1267 · Slater#1267
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Elyas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Elyas and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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