Ellamay
An English feminine name combining "Ella" (a short form of Eleanor) and "May".
Name Census estimates that about 83 living Americans carry the first name Ellamay. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ellamay today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ellamay births was 1916 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ellamay. 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 Ellamay with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Ellamay. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
83
~ 1 in 4,129,570 Americans
Peak year
1916
11 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#12,499
Tracked since 1906
Census
Ellamay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 189 people with the first name Ellamay, which placed it at #39,747 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
#39,747
National first-name rank
People counted
189
189 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ellamay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ellamay is White at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Ellamay 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 Ellamay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.7% · 145
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.9% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 10
- Two or more races4.2% · 8
- Black or African American3.7% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 4
Popularity
Ellamay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ellamay from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 57 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Ellamay remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ellamay 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 Ellamay 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 Ellamay
The name Ellamay is a relatively modern English name that originated in the late 19th or early 20th century. It is a combination of the two names Ella and May, both of which have their own distinct origins and meanings.
Ella is a German name derived from the Old German word "alia," which means "other" or "foreign." It was commonly used as a diminutive form of other German names like Eleanor or Elise. The name May, on the other hand, is derived from the Latin name "Maia," which was the name of the Roman goddess of spring and growth.
While Ellamay has no direct historical references or appearances in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its component names have been in use for centuries. The name Ella has been recorded as early as the 8th century, while May has been used as a given name since the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ellamay is Ellamay Holtz, an American actress born in 1892 who appeared in several silent films in the 1910s and 1920s. Another notable figure with the name was Ellamay Morse, an American educator and writer born in 1900 who published several books on teaching methods and child psychology.
Other famous individuals with the first name Ellamay include Ellamay Howell (1893-1981), an American painter and sculptor; Ellamay Hulbert (1905-1986), an American actress and singer who performed on Broadway and in vaudeville; and Ellamay Morse (1926-2018), an American author and journalist who wrote several books on travel and outdoor adventures.
The name Ellamay has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, but its combination of two popular names, Ella and May, has likely contributed to its appeal as a unique and melodic option for parents seeking a distinctive name for their child.
People
Ellamay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ellamay 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
Ellamay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ellamay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 83 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ellamay 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 4,129,570 US residents.
Is Ellamay a common name?
We classify Ellamay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 196 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ellamay most popular?
The single biggest year for Ellamay was 1916, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ellamay 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 Ellamay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 189 people with the name Ellamay, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,747 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 Ellamay 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 Ellamay?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ellamay appears almost entirely female. Of the 195 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Ellamay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ellamay is White at 76.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (7.9%) and Hispanic (5.3%). 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 Ellamay most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ellamay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.7% (145 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 Ellamay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ellamay a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ellamay 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 Ellamay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ellamay 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 Ellamay 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 Ellamay?
You can see how many people share the name Ellamay on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.