Elian
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "my God has answered".
Name Census estimates that about 12,812 living Americans carry the first name Elian. It sits at #237 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (99.2% of registrations). The average person named Elian today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elian births was 2024 (1,503 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elian. 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 Elian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Elian is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 103 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Elian is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,753 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,503 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#237
Tracked since 1988
Census
Elian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,542 people with the first name Elian, which placed it at #3,260 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
#3,260
National first-name rank
People counted
6.5K
6,542 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elian is Hispanic at 88.8%. The next largest groups are White (7.6%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Elian 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 Elian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino88.8% · 5,809
- White7.6% · 500
- Black or African American2.0% · 130
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 57
- Two or more races0.6% · 37
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Elian
Out of the 12,918 babies given the name Elian since 1880, 99.2% 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.
Elian as a male name
- Ranked #237 in 2024
- 1,495 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,495 births)
Elian as a female name
- Ranked #11,340 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elian leans strongly male. 6,220 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 323 female bearers (4.9%).
Popularity
Elian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elian from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 5,912 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
Elian 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 Elian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 40 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Elian, while Mississippi, Delaware, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 294 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elian
The name Elian has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, and is believed to have emerged during the ancient era. It is derived from the Hebrew name Eliyahu, which means "my God is Yahweh" or "Yahweh is God." The name Eliyahu is a combination of the Hebrew words "El" (meaning "God") and "Yahu" (a shortened form of "Yahweh," the name of the God of Israel in the Hebrew Bible).
The name Elian is a shortened form of Eliyahu and shares a similar meaning, emphasizing the devotion to the God of Israel. It first appeared in biblical texts and ancient Hebrew records, where it was used to refer to various individuals who held significant roles in the religious and cultural life of the Israelites.
One of the earliest and most notable figures associated with the name Elian is the biblical prophet Elijah, also known as Eliyahu in Hebrew. He lived during the 9th century BCE and played a crucial role in the religious history of ancient Israel. His name and story are mentioned in the books of 1 and 2 Kings in the Hebrew Bible.
Throughout history, several other prominent individuals have borne the name Elian or its variants. For example, Elian (born c. 605 CE) was a Byzantine mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the development of trigonometry and the study of celestial motions.
Another notable figure was Elian the Hermit (c. 451-c. 513 CE), a Christian monk and ascetic who lived in Palestine during the Byzantine era. He was renowned for his pious life and is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic churches.
In more recent times, the name Elian gained international attention with the case of Elian Gonzalez (born December 6, 1993), a Cuban boy who was at the center of a highly publicized custody battle between his relatives in Miami and his father in Cuba in the late 1990s.
Additionally, Elian Herrera (born May 26, 1985) is a professional baseball player from the Dominican Republic who has played for several Major League Baseball teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers.
Elian Somaza (born July 18, 1981) is a former Colombian professional footballer who played as a midfielder for various clubs, including Deportivo Cali and Millonarios.
People
Elian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elian 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
Elian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,812 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elian 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 26,753 US residents.
Is Elian a common name?
We classify Elian as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,918 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elian most popular?
The single biggest year for Elian was 2024, when 1,503 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elian is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,542 people with the name Elian, or 2.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,260 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 Elian 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 Elian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elian leans strongly male. 6,220 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 323 female bearers (4.9%). 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 Elian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elian is Hispanic at 88.8%. The next largest groups are White (7.6%) and Black (2.0%). 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 Elian most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (5,809 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 Elian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elian a male name?
Yes, 99.2% of people registered as Elian 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 Elian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elian 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 Elian 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 share the name Elian?
Want to know how many people share the name Elian? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.