Eldon
A masculine name of English origin meaning "from the old valley".
Name Census estimates that about 9,616 living Americans carry the first name Eldon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Eldon today is around 62 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eldon births was 1926 (647 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eldon. 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 Eldon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Eldon is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 55 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
9.6K
~ 1 in 35,644 Americans
Peak year
1926
647 babies that year
Average age
62
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,238
Tracked since 1881
Census
Eldon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,181 people with the first name Eldon, which placed it at #2,437 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
#2,437
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,181 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eldon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eldon is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Eldon 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 Eldon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.3% · 8,886
- Black or African American4.0% · 406
- Two or more races2.7% · 277
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 237
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 205
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 170
Gender
Gender distribution for Eldon
Out of the 26,096 babies given the name Eldon since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Eldon as a male name
- Ranked #2,238 in 2024
- 64 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1926 (647 births)
Eldon as a female name
- Ranked #3,801 in 1944
- 7 female births in 1944
- Peak: 1929 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eldon appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,189 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Eldon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eldon from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 5,968 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eldon 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 Eldon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eldons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. Iowa, Kansas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Eldon, while South Carolina, Maryland, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 489 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eldon
The name Eldon originates from the Old English language, derived from the combination of two words: "eld" meaning old or ancient, and "dun" meaning a hill or down. It is believed to have emerged in the early medieval period, around the 7th to 9th centuries, primarily in the Anglo-Saxon regions of England.
The earliest recorded use of the name Eldon can be traced back to the Domesday Book, a monumental survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. It mentions several individuals bearing the name, suggesting its presence among the Anglo-Saxon population at the time.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Eldon was Eldon the Clerk, a 12th-century English scholar and writer who authored several religious texts. His work, "De Consuetudinibus Ecclesiae," provided valuable insights into the customs and practices of the medieval church.
In the 16th century, Eldon Revitt, a prominent English merchant and landowner, gained recognition for his successful business ventures and philanthropic efforts. He was known for his support of local communities and charitable organizations.
The name gained further prominence in the 18th century with the birth of John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon (1751-1838), a distinguished English lawyer and statesman who served as Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1801 to 1827. His long tenure and influential legal decisions left a lasting impact on British jurisprudence.
Another notable figure was Eldon Rathburn (1916-2008), a Canadian painter and educator renowned for his landscape and portraiture works. His artistic contributions were celebrated throughout his lifetime, and his paintings can be found in numerous galleries and private collections.
In the literary world, Eldon Roark (1928-2011) was an American author and playwright, best known for his novel "The Narrow Path," which explored themes of societal conformity and individualism. His works were widely acclaimed for their thought-provoking narratives and insightful commentary on contemporary issues.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Eldon throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultural and intellectual heritage associated with this ancient English name.
People
Eldon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eldon 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
Eldon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eldon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,616 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eldon 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 35,644 US residents.
Is Eldon a common name?
We classify Eldon as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 26,096 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eldon most popular?
The single biggest year for Eldon was 1926, when 647 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eldon is about 62 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eldon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,181 people with the name Eldon, or 3.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,437 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 Eldon 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 Eldon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eldon appears almost entirely male. Of the 10,189 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Eldon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eldon is White at 87.3%. The next largest groups are Black (4.0%) and Two or More Races (2.7%). 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 Eldon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eldon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.3% (8,886 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 Eldon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eldon a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Eldon 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 Eldon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eldon 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 Eldon 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 Eldon as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.