Elain
A feminine name derived from the Old French Elaine, meaning "bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 181 living Americans carry the first name Elain. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elain today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elain births was 1947 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elain. 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 Elain with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
181
~ 1 in 1,893,670 Americans
Peak year
1947
11 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,903
Tracked since 1918
Census
Elain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 761 people with the first name Elain, which placed it at #15,191 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
#15,191
National first-name rank
People counted
761
761 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elain is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (14.8%). 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 Elain 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 Elain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.1% · 404
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 119
- Black or African American14.8% · 113
- Asian and Pacific Islander13.1% · 100
- Two or more races2.0% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 10
Popularity
Elain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elain from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 66 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elain 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 Elain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elain
The name Elain is derived from the ancient Brythonic Celtic language, which was spoken in parts of what is now England, Wales, and Brittany during the Iron Age and Roman period. It is believed to be a variation of the Welsh name Elen, which itself is derived from the word "elin" meaning "sun ray" or "bright one."
In Welsh mythology, Elen was the name of a female figure associated with sovereignty and the sun. She was sometimes portrayed as the wife or consort of the mythical king Brychan Brycheiniog, who is said to have lived in the 5th century AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elain can be found in the medieval Welsh tale of "Culhwch and Olwen," which is part of the Mabinogion collection of Welsh prose tales. In this story, Elain is the daughter of King Custennin and is described as a beautiful and virtuous young woman.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Elain. One of the earliest was Elain of Dol (c. 490-548), a Breton princess and Catholic saint who founded the monastery of Landeleau in Brittany, France.
Another noteworthy Elain was Elain le Voyer (c. 1190-1265), a French noblewoman and the wife of Robert III, Count of Dreux. She was known for her piety and her involvement in the construction of several religious buildings in the Dreux region.
In the 14th century, there was Elain of Corbeil (c. 1370-1439), a French mystic and visionary who claimed to have received divine revelations. Her writings and teachings attracted a significant following during her lifetime.
In the realm of literature, one of the most famous Elains was the character of Elaine in Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poetic work "Idylls of the King" (1859). Tennyson's Elaine is depicted as a tragic figure who falls hopelessly in love with the knight Lancelot.
Another literary figure named Elain is the character of Elaine Harper in the science fiction novel "The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester, published in 1953. In the novel, Elaine is a powerful telepath and a key figure in the story's exploration of psychic abilities and crime investigation.
While the name Elain has its roots in ancient Celtic culture, it has remained popular throughout various periods and regions, with notable individuals bearing this name across different centuries and contexts.
People
Elain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elain 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
Elain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 181 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elain 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 1,893,670 US residents.
Is Elain a common name?
We classify Elain as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 260 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elain most popular?
The single biggest year for Elain was 1947, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elain is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 761 people with the name Elain, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,191 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 Elain 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 Elain?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elain leans strongly female. 705 people counted with this name were female (92.4%), compared with 58 male bearers (7.6%). 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 Elain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elain is White at 53.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.6%) and Black (14.8%). 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 Elain most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.1% (404 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 Elain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elain a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elain in the SSA data are female. 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 Elain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elain 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 Elain 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 people have Elain as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Elain on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.