El
A Spanish masculine name meaning "the" in Spanish, from the Hebrew.
Name Census estimates that about 167 living Americans carry the first name El. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.6% of registrations being male. The average person named El today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of El births was 1928 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for El. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for El with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
167
~ 1 in 2,052,421 Americans
Peak year
1928
12 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2023 SSA rank
#5,536
Tracked since 1915
Census
El in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,253 people with the first name El, which placed it at #10,570 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,570
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,253 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for El
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named El is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (22.3%) and Hispanic (17.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name El described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name El at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.9% · 537
- Black or African American22.3% · 279
- Hispanic or Latino17.3% · 217
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.6% · 170
- Two or more races3.0% · 38
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for El
El leans heavily male at 86.6% of total registrations, but 38 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
El as a male name
- Ranked #12,750 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2000 (11 births)
El as a female name
- Ranked #5,536 in 1947
- 5 female births in 1947
- Peak: 1928 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows El on both sides of the split. Of the 1,255 people counted with this name, 693 were male (55.2%) and 562 were female (44.8%).
Popularity
El: popularity over time
The SSA tracks El from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 48 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
El by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name El during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Els live
Origin
Meaning and history of El
The name El has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back thousands of years. It is derived from the Hebrew word "El," which means "God" or "the Almighty." This word is found throughout the Hebrew Bible, also known as the Old Testament, and is often used as one of the names or titles for the God of Israel.
El is a short and powerful name that has been used throughout history in various religious and cultural contexts. In ancient Canaanite and Semitic religions, El was a prominent deity, often considered the head of the pantheon of gods.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name El can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Mesopotamian epic poem dating back to around 2100 BCE. In this epic, El is mentioned as a god revered by the people of Uruk.
In the Bible, El is frequently used as a name for God, particularly in the books of Genesis, Exodus, and the Psalms. For example, in Genesis 14:18-20, Melchizedek is described as "the priest of El Elyon," meaning "the priest of God Most High."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name El. One of the most famous is El Greco (1541-1614), a renowned Greek Renaissance painter known for his distinctive and expressive style. His real name was Doménikos Theotokópoulos, but he was nicknamed "El Greco" (meaning "The Greek") due to his Greek origin.
Another historical figure with the name El is El Cid (c. 1043-1099), a Castilian nobleman and military leader who played a crucial role in the Reconquista, the campaign to retake the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors.
In ancient Egypt, El was also a prominent figure, often associated with the god Ra. One of the most famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt, Akhenaten (c. 1379-1336 BCE), was known for his attempt to establish the worship of the Aten, a representation of the solar disc, as the sole deity in Egypt.
El has also been a popular name among Native American tribes. One notable figure is El Renegado (c. 1825-1888), a Navajo leader and warrior who led his people in their resistance against the United States government in the 19th century.
Finally, in Islamic tradition, El is sometimes used as a name or title for Allah, the Arabic word for God. This reflects the interconnectedness of the Abrahamic religions and their shared roots in the ancient Middle Eastern cultures.
People
El + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with El as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
El: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named El?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 167 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for El going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 2,052,421 US residents.
Is El a common name?
We classify El as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 284 babies have been registered with this name.
When was El most popular?
The single biggest year for El was 1928, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living El is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was El in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,253 people with the name El, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,570 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name El in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for El?
The 2020 Census sex table shows El on both sides of the split. Of the 1,255 people counted with this name, 693 were male (55.2%) and 562 were female (44.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named El?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named El is White at 42.9%. The next largest groups are Black (22.3%) and Hispanic (17.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name El most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named El in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.9% (537 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name El in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is El a male name?
Yes, 86.6% of people registered as El in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is El still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded El in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like El can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named El?
If you just want to know how many people have the name El, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.