Elkin
A masculine given name derived from the Hebrew "Elkanah", meaning "God has created".
Name Census estimates that about 291 living Americans carry the first name Elkin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Elkin today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elkin births was 2021 (21 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elkin. 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
291
~ 1 in 1,177,850 Americans
Peak year
2021
21 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,967
Tracked since 1914
Popularity
Elkin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elkin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 104 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Elkin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elkin 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 Elkin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elkins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Elkin
The name Elkin is derived from the Scottish Gaelic name Ailcin, which itself is a diminutive form of the name Ailce, meaning "greyhound" or "lean." The name has its roots in ancient Celtic cultures and can be traced back to the early medieval period in Scotland and Ireland.
In the 12th century, the name Elkin was recorded in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient Irish chronicle, as the name of a Scottish chieftain. This early mention suggests that the name was in use among Scottish nobility and leaders during this time period.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Elkin was Elkin de Leuedre, a Scottish knight who lived in the 13th century and fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence against the English. His name appears in historical records from the Battle of Falkirk in 1298.
In the 16th century, Elkin Rait was a notable Scottish clergyman who served as the Bishop of Aberdeen from 1542 to 1551. He played a role in the tumultuous religious and political events of the Scottish Reformation.
Elkin Mathews (1851-1921) was an English publisher and bookseller who founded the Elkin Mathews publishing house in London. He was instrumental in publishing and promoting the works of many important writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats.
Elkin Calhoun Wilson (1909-2003) was an American author and educator who wrote several notable works of fiction and non-fiction, including the novel "Memoiren eines Sohnes" (Memoirs of a Son) and the biography "Prince Albert: A Biography."
Elkin Baillou (1926-2003) was a French artist and sculptor who gained recognition for his abstract metal sculptures and his contributions to the Nouvelle Sculpture movement in France during the 1960s and 1970s.
People
Elkin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elkin 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
Elkin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elkin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 291 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elkin 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 Elkin a common name?
We classify Elkin 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, 330 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elkin most popular?
The single biggest year for Elkin was 2021, when 21 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elkin is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Elkin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elkin 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.