Eliab
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God is father".
Name Census estimates that about 883 living Americans carry the first name Eliab. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Eliab today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eliab births was 2022 (98 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eliab. 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.
People living today
883
~ 1 in 388,170 Americans
Peak year
2022
98 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,445
Tracked since 1989
Popularity
Eliab: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eliab from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 349 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eliab 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 Eliab during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eliabs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Texas, California, Virginia recorded the most babies named Eliab, while Tennessee, Ohio, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eliab
The name Eliab has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a combination of two words: "El" which means "God" and "ab" meaning "father". Thus, the name Eliab can be translated to mean "God is father" or "My God is father".
Eliab is mentioned several times in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament. It appears as the name of one of the sons of Helon from the tribe of Zebulun, as recorded in Numbers 1:9. It is also the name of one of the sons of Pallu from the tribe of Reuben, as mentioned in Numbers 26:8.
Perhaps the most notable Eliab in the Bible is the eldest son of Jesse, who was the father of King David. Eliab is described as being present when the prophet Samuel came to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the future king of Israel. Eliab initially thought Samuel had come to anoint him, but the prophet instead chose the younger David (1 Samuel 16:6-13).
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Eliab was Eliab ben Solomoh, a Jewish scholar and poet who lived in Italy during the 11th century. He is known for his works in the field of Hebrew linguistics and poetic compositions.
In the 17th century, there was an English Puritan minister named Eliab Littlewood who served as the pastor of a church in Kidderminster, England. He was born around 1620 and died in 1690.
Another notable figure with the name Eliab was Eliab Kingman, an American soldier and farmer who fought in the Revolutionary War. He was born in 1745 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and died in 1817.
In the 19th century, Eliab Wilkinson Kingman was an American lawyer and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from Indiana. He was born in 1811 and died in 1897.
Eliab Hoskins was a Welsh-born American Baptist minister and author who lived from 1789 to 1857. He was known for his religious writings and his work in establishing churches in various parts of the United States.
People
Eliab + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eliab 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
Eliab: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eliab?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 883 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eliab 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 388,170 US residents.
Is Eliab a common name?
We classify Eliab as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 891 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eliab most popular?
The single biggest year for Eliab was 2022, when 98 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eliab is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Eliab a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Eliab 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.
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.