Elan
Meaning "pine tree" or "linden tree", a Hebrew name of masculine origins.
Name Census estimates that about 4,171 living Americans carry the first name Elan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Elan today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elan births was 2012 (153 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elan. 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 Elan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 82,176 Americans
Peak year
2012
153 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,636
Tracked since 1963
Census
Elan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,834 people with the first name Elan, which placed it at #4,740 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
#4,740
National first-name rank
People counted
3.8K
3,834 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elan is White at 54.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.9%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Elan 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 Elan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.9% · 2,105
- Hispanic or Latino17.9% · 688
- Black or African American13.2% · 506
- Two or more races7.2% · 275
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 221
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 39
Gender
Gender distribution for Elan
Elan leans heavily male at 81.4% of total registrations, but 793 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Elan as a male name
- Ranked #2,636 in 2024
- 50 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (136 births)
Elan as a female name
- Ranked #11,337 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1984 (41 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Elan on both sides of the split. Of the 3,834 people counted with this name, 3,008 were male (78.5%) and 826 were female (21.5%).
Popularity
Elan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elan from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,411 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elan 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 Elan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Elan, while South Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 99 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elan
The name Elan is believed to have originated from Hebrew, where it means "oak tree" or "strong and resilient." It is a popular name in Jewish culture and has been in use for centuries.
The earliest known reference to the name Elan can be found in the Hebrew Bible, where it is mentioned as a place name in the Book of Numbers. This suggests that the name was in use among the ancient Israelites as early as the 13th century BCE.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Elan was Elan ben Shachar, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 9th century CE in present-day Iraq. He was known for his expertise in the Talmud and Jewish law.
In the Middle Ages, the name Elan was also used by some Christian communities, particularly in France and England. One notable person with this name was Elan de Wolfe, a Norman knight who served under William the Conqueror during the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century.
During the Renaissance period, the name Elan gained popularity among Jewish communities in Spain and Portugal. One famous individual with this name was Elan Abravanel, a Jewish philosopher and statesman who lived in the 15th century. He served as a diplomat and advisor to several Spanish kings and queens.
In more recent times, the name Elan has been used across different cultures and regions, although it remains particularly popular among Jewish communities. Some notable individuals with this name include Elan Steinberg, an American writer and human rights activist who fought for the rights of Holocaust survivors (1939-2012), and Elan Mastai, a Canadian novelist and screenwriter known for his work on films like "The F Word" (born in 1973).
Overall, the name Elan has a rich history that spans centuries and cultures, with its roots firmly grounded in the Hebrew language and Jewish tradition. Its meaning of strength and resilience has likely contributed to its enduring popularity across generations.
People
Elan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elan 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
Elan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,171 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elan 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 82,176 US residents.
Is Elan a common name?
We classify Elan as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,271 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elan most popular?
The single biggest year for Elan was 2012, when 153 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elan is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,834 people with the name Elan, or 1.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,740 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 Elan 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 Elan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Elan on both sides of the split. Of the 3,834 people counted with this name, 3,008 were male (78.5%) and 826 were female (21.5%). 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 Elan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elan is White at 54.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (17.9%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Elan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.9% (2,105 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 Elan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elan a male name?
Yes, 81.4% of people registered as Elan 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 Elan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elan 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 Elan 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 are named Elan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.