Elizabeth
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "my God is an oath" or "consecrated to God".
Roughly 1,074,587 people in the United States go by the first name Elizabeth, which ranks #17 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elizabeth today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elizabeth births was 1990 (20,840 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Kevin (1,074,301).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elizabeth. 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 Elizabeth with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Elizabeth is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 5,211 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.1M
~ 1 in 319 Americans
Peak year
1990
20,840 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elizabeth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,206,652 people with the first name Elizabeth, which placed it at #18 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
#18
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2M
1,206,652 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
399.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elizabeth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elizabeth is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.7%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.8% · 890,838
- Hispanic or Latino16.7% · 201,571
- Black or African American4.1% · 48,933
- Two or more races2.6% · 31,972
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 28,136
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 5,202
Gender
Gender distribution for Elizabeth
Out of the 1,687,089 babies given the name Elizabeth since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Elizabeth as a male name
- Ranked #12,802 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (140 births)
Elizabeth as a female name
- Ranked #17 in 2024
- 6,878 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (20,749 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elizabeth appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,206,652 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Elizabeth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elizabeth from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 199,977 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 107 | 25,006 | 25,113 |
| 1890s | 116 | 33,879 | 33,995 |
| 1900s | 135 | 41,708 | 41,843 |
| 1910s | 263 | 116,811 | 117,074 |
| 1920s | 434 | 139,672 | 140,106 |
| 1930s | 463 | 96,479 | 96,942 |
| 1940s | 358 | 116,551 | 116,909 |
| 1950s | 366 | 165,658 | 166,024 |
| 1960s | 545 | 168,915 | 169,460 |
| 1970s | 628 | 142,855 | 143,483 |
| 1980s | 1,000 | 198,977 | 199,977 |
| 1990s | 453 | 172,690 | 173,143 |
| 2000s | 234 | 133,557 | 133,791 |
| 2010s | 91 | 94,068 | 94,159 |
| 2020s | 18 | 35,052 | 35,070 |
Geography
Where Elizabeths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Elizabeth, while Wyoming, Alaska, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31,036 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elizabeth
The name Elizabeth has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, derived from the biblical name Elisheva. The name Elisheva is itself derived from the Hebrew words "el" meaning "God" and "shava" meaning "oath" or "fullness," suggesting a meaning along the lines of "God is my oath" or "God's promise."
The name Elizabeth first appeared in the biblical Book of Exodus, referring to the wife of Aaron, the brother of Moses. This early usage of the name dates back to around the 13th century BCE. The Greek form of the name, "Elisabet," is found in the New Testament, where it refers to the mother of John the Baptist.
As Christianity spread across Europe, the name Elizabeth gained popularity, particularly after the 12th century. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231), a princess renowned for her charitable works and later canonized as a Catholic saint.
Another notable Elizabeth from history is Elizabeth I (1533-1603), the Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 until her death. Her reign, known as the Elizabethan era, was a golden age for English art, literature, and exploration.
In the 19th century, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) was an English poet whose work, including the famous "Sonnets from the Portuguese," cemented her place in literary history. Around the same time, Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) was a prominent figure in the early women's rights movement in the United States.
A more recent example is Queen Elizabeth II (1926-2022), the longest-reigning British monarch, who served as the head of state for the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death in 2022.
Throughout history, the name Elizabeth has been favored by royalty, with numerous queens, princesses, and other members of noble families bearing the name. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its biblical roots, its association with influential figures, and its pleasant sound and spelling.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Elizabeth
People
Elizabeth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elizabeth 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
Elizabeth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elizabeth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,074,587 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elizabeth 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 319 US residents.
Is Elizabeth a common name?
We classify Elizabeth as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,687,089 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elizabeth most popular?
The single biggest year for Elizabeth was 1990, when 20,840 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elizabeth is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elizabeth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,206,652 people with the name Elizabeth, or 399.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18 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 Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elizabeth appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,206,652 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Elizabeth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elizabeth is White at 73.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.7%) and Black (4.1%). 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 Elizabeth most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elizabeth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.8% (890,838 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 Elizabeth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elizabeth a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elizabeth 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 Elizabeth 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 are named Elizabeth?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.