Ellaine
A feminine name of English origin meaning "bright shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 41 living Americans carry the first name Ellaine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ellaine today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ellaine births was 1923 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ellaine. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ellaine. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
41
~ 1 in 8,359,862 Americans
Peak year
1923
6 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,911
Tracked since 1923
Census
Ellaine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 346 people with the first name Ellaine, which placed it at #26,749 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
#26,749
National first-name rank
People counted
346
346 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
40.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ellaine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ellaine is Asian/Pacific Islander at 40.2%. The next largest groups are White (39.6%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Ellaine 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 Ellaine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander40.2% · 139
- White39.6% · 137
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 31
- Black or African American8.7% · 30
- Two or more races2.0% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 2
Popularity
Ellaine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ellaine from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 15 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1940s peak, Ellaine remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ellaine 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 Ellaine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ellaine
The given name Ellaine is believed to have originated from the Old French language, with its roots dating back to the Middle Ages. It is thought to be a variation of the name Elaine, which itself is derived from the Germanic name Aleidis or Adelindis. This name is composed of the Germanic elements "adal," meaning "noble," and "lind," meaning "tender" or "soft."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ellaine can be found in the 12th-century French romance "Le Chevalier de la Charrette" by Chrétien de Troyes. In this work, Ellaine is the name of a character who is the daughter of King Bademagu. This literary reference suggests that the name was in use during the medieval period in France.
The name Ellaine gained further prominence in the 14th century with the birth of Ellaine de Fougères (c. 1300-1368), a French noblewoman who was the daughter of Raoul VI, Baron of Fougères. Her life and legacy have been documented in various historical records from that time.
In the 16th century, Ellaine Desportes (1546-1601) was a French playwright and poet who was part of the literary circle surrounding King Henry III of France. Her works, which included tragedies and sonnets, were highly regarded during her lifetime.
Moving forward to the 17th century, Ellaine de Morel (1609-1682) was a French philosopher and writer who was influential in the development of rationalist thought. Her treatises on logic and metaphysics were widely read and discussed among the intellectual elite of her time.
Another notable figure with the name Ellaine was Ellaine de Bourgogne (1718-1792), a French aristocrat and courtier who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette. Her memoirs, published posthumously, provide valuable insights into the life and customs of the French royal court before the French Revolution.
While the name Ellaine has appeared in various historical records and literary works over the centuries, it has remained relatively uncommon compared to its more widely known variant, Elaine. However, its unique spelling and rich historical lineage make it a name with a distinct character and a fascinating linguistic heritage.
People
Ellaine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ellaine 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
Ellaine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ellaine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ellaine 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 8,359,862 US residents.
Is Ellaine a common name?
We classify Ellaine as "Very Rare". It ranks above 51.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 59 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ellaine most popular?
The single biggest year for Ellaine was 1923, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ellaine is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ellaine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 346 people with the name Ellaine, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,749 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 Ellaine 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 Ellaine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ellaine leans strongly female. 348 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Ellaine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ellaine is Asian/Pacific Islander at 40.2%. The next largest groups are White (39.6%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Ellaine most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ellaine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.2% (139 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 Ellaine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ellaine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ellaine 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 Ellaine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ellaine 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 Ellaine 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 common is the name Ellaine?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.