Ellijah
A Hebrew name meaning "my God is Yahweh" or "Yahweh is God".
Name Census estimates that about 567 living Americans carry the first name Ellijah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ellijah today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ellijah births was 2008 (38 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ellijah. 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
567
~ 1 in 604,505 Americans
Peak year
2008
38 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,928
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Ellijah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ellijah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 256 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ellijah 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 Ellijah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ellijahs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ellijah
The name Ellijah is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Elijah, which means "my God is Yahweh" or "the Lord is my God." It has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture and is believed to have originated around the 9th century BCE.
The name Elijah is found in the Hebrew Bible, where it refers to the prophet Elijah, a significant figure in both Judaism and Christianity. He is revered for his miraculous acts and his unwavering devotion to God. The biblical account of Elijah's life is recorded in the Books of Kings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elijah is in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Hebrew manuscripts dating back to the 3rd century BCE. The name appears in various forms, including Eliyahu and Eliyyahu, which are closer to the original Hebrew spelling.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ellijah or its variants. One of the most famous was Elijah the Tishbite, a prophet in the 9th century BCE who confronted King Ahab and challenged the worship of Baal in ancient Israel.
Another notable bearer of the name was Elijah ben Solomon, a renowned Jewish philosopher and scholar who lived in the 12th century CE. He was known for his work on Jewish ethics and his commentary on the Talmud.
In the Christian tradition, the name Elijah is associated with St. Elijah, a 4th-century monk who is venerated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. He is renowned for his asceticism and his role in establishing monastic communities in the Judean Desert.
In more recent times, Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) was a prominent African-American religious leader who founded the Nation of Islam, an influential Islamic movement in the United States.
Elijah Wood (born 1981) is a famous American actor best known for his role as Frodo Baggins in the acclaimed Lord of the Rings film trilogy, which further popularized the name in modern times.
While the name Ellijah is less common than the more traditional Elijah, it maintains a connection to the rich historical and religious significance of its Hebrew origin, reflecting the enduring appeal of this ancient name.
People
Ellijah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ellijah 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
Ellijah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ellijah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 567 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ellijah 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 604,505 US residents.
Is Ellijah a common name?
We classify Ellijah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 573 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ellijah most popular?
The single biggest year for Ellijah was 2008, when 38 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ellijah is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Ellijah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ellijah 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.