Elfida
Of Greek origin, meaning "the fruitful one" or "the fertile woman".
Name Census estimates that about 51 living Americans carry the first name Elfida. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elfida today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elfida births was 1940 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elfida. 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 Elfida with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Elfida is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Elfidas were born before 1959.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Elfida. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
51
~ 1 in 6,720,673 Americans
Peak year
1940
10 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1965 SSA rank
#6,800
Tracked since 1922
Census
Elfida in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 241 people with the first name Elfida, which placed it at #34,040 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
#34,040
National first-name rank
People counted
241
241 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
95.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elfida
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elfida is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.5%) and Black (1.2%). 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 Elfida 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 Elfida at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino95.9% · 231
- White2.5% · 6
- Black or African American1.2% · 3
- Two or more races0.4% · 1
Popularity
Elfida: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elfida from the 1920s through to the 1960s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 49 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elfida 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 Elfida during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elfidas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Elfida
The feminine given name Elfida is of Greek origin and can be traced back to the late Byzantine period. It is derived from the Greek words 'elpis' meaning 'hope' and 'ida' signifying 'beautiful'. The name Elfida thus translates to 'beautiful hope' or 'hope of beauty'.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elfida appears in a Byzantine chronicle from the 12th century, where it is mentioned as the name of a noblewoman from Constantinople. This suggests that the name was in use among the Greek aristocracy during the latter years of the Byzantine Empire.
In the centuries following the fall of Constantinople, the name Elfida seems to have fallen out of widespread use, only resurfacing occasionally in historical records from various parts of the Greek world. One notable bearer of the name was Elfida Kalogera, a 16th-century Greek poet and scholar from Crete.
The name gained some renewed popularity in the 19th century, particularly among Greeks living in the Ottoman Empire and its successor states. Elfida Drakoulis, a Greek educator and activist from Smyrna (modern-day Izmir), was a prominent figure in the early 20th century who worked to promote women's education and rights.
Another notable Elfida was Elfida Miron, a Greek-Romanian actress born in 1888 who had a successful career on the stage in both Romania and Greece during the early 20th century. Elfida Lappa, a Greek opera singer born in 1908, also achieved international recognition for her performances in the mid-1900s.
In more recent times, Elfida Voutsa, a Greek actress and singer born in 1951, has helped to keep the name Elfida in the public eye through her work in film, television, and music.
Overall, while not among the most common given names, Elfida has a long and distinguished history as a distinctly Greek name with roots dating back to the Byzantine era, and has been borne by notable figures in various fields over the centuries.
People
Elfida + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elfida 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
Elfida: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elfida?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 51 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elfida 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 6,720,673 US residents.
Is Elfida a common name?
We classify Elfida as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 155 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elfida most popular?
The single biggest year for Elfida was 1940, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elfida is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elfida in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 241 people with the name Elfida, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,040 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 Elfida 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 Elfida?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elfida appears almost entirely female. Of the 239 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Elfida?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elfida is Hispanic at 95.9%. The next largest groups are White (2.5%) and Black (1.2%). 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 Elfida most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elfida in the 2020 Census, accounting for 95.9% (231 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 Elfida in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elfida a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elfida 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 Elfida still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elfida 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 Elfida 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 the name Elfida?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Elfida on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.