Elienai
Hebrew masculine name meaning "God's eyes" or "eyes of God".
Name Census estimates that about 291 living Americans carry the first name Elienai. It is a predominantly female name (98.0% of registrations). The average person named Elienai today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elienai births was 2015 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elienai. 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 Elienai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
291
~ 1 in 1,177,850 Americans
Peak year
2015
41 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2016 SSA rank
#11,117
Tracked since 2001
Census
Elienai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 278 people with the first name Elienai, which placed it at #31,017 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
#31,017
National first-name rank
People counted
278
278 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
86.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elienai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elienai is Hispanic at 86.7%. The next largest groups are White (9.7%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Elienai 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 Elienai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino86.7% · 241
- White9.7% · 27
- Black or African American3.2% · 9
- Two or more races0.4% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Elienai
Elienai leans heavily female at 98.0% of total registrations, but 6 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Elienai as a male name
- Ranked #11,117 in 2016
- 6 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2016 (6 births)
Elienai as a female name
- Ranked #15,844 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2015 (41 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elienai leans strongly female. 233 people counted with this name were female (82.6%), compared with 49 male bearers (17.4%).
Popularity
Elienai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elienai from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 213 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
Elienai 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 Elienai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elienais live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Elienai, while Florida, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 21 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elienai
The name Elienai is believed to have its origins in the ancient Hebrew language. It is a masculine name that can be traced back to biblical times and the Old Testament scriptures. The name is thought to be derived from the Hebrew words "El" meaning "God" and "Anah" meaning "to answer" or "to respond". Together, the name Elienai can be interpreted to mean "God has answered" or "God has responded".
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elienai appears in the Book of Ezra, a book in the Hebrew Bible that recounts the story of the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian exile. In Ezra 8:4, a man named Elienai is listed among those who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon with Ezra the scribe.
Later in history, the name Elienai is also mentioned in the Apocryphal book of 1 Esdras, which is considered part of the biblical canon by some Christian denominations. In 1 Esdras 8:28, a man named Elienai is listed among the Levites who accompanied Ezra on his journey to Jerusalem.
While not as common as some other biblical names, Elienai has been used throughout history by various individuals. One notable example is Elienai ben Abraham, a 13th-century Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in Provence, France.
Another famous bearer of the name was Elienai ben Moshe, a 16th-century Italian rabbi and writer who is best known for his work "Massat Binyamin", a commentary on the Talmud.
In the 17th century, there was Elienai Cresques, a Jewish cartographer and book illustrator who lived in Majorca, Spain. He is known for his contributions to the Catalan Atlas, a highly detailed and beautifully illustrated world map created in 1375.
More recently, in the 20th century, there was Elienai Zvi ben Meir, an Israeli rabbi and author who lived from 1898 to 1968. He was a prominent scholar of Jewish law and wrote several influential works on various aspects of Halakha (Jewish religious law).
While not as widespread as some other Hebrew names, Elienai has a rich history and meaning that connects it to ancient biblical texts and the Jewish faith. Its interpretation as "God has answered" or "God has responded" has likely contributed to its enduring use over the centuries.
People
Elienai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elienai 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
Elienai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elienai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 291 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elienai 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 1,177,850 US residents.
Is Elienai a common name?
We classify Elienai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 294 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elienai most popular?
The single biggest year for Elienai was 2015, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elienai is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elienai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 278 people with the name Elienai, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,017 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 Elienai 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 Elienai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elienai leans strongly female. 233 people counted with this name were female (82.6%), compared with 49 male bearers (17.4%). 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 Elienai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elienai is Hispanic at 86.7%. The next largest groups are White (9.7%) and Black (3.2%). 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 Elienai most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elienai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.7% (241 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 Elienai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elienai a female name?
Yes, 98.0% of people registered as Elienai 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 Elienai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elienai 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 Elienai 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 Elienai as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Elienai, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.