Elliott
A diminutive of an English surname from Eliot, meaning "the Lord is my God".
Name Census estimates that about 59,649 living Americans carry the first name Elliott. It sits at #163 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.7% of registrations being male. The average person named Elliott today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elliott births was 2019 (3,124 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elliott. 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 Elliott with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
60K
~ 1 in 5,746 Americans
Peak year
2019
3,124 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#163
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elliott in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 43,865 people with the first name Elliott, which placed it at #981 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
#981
National first-name rank
People counted
44K
43,865 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elliott
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elliott is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Hispanic (8.9%). 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 Elliott 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 Elliott at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.2% · 31,661
- Black or African American10.1% · 4,446
- Hispanic or Latino8.9% · 3,889
- Two or more races5.8% · 2,527
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 1,036
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 306
Gender
Gender distribution for Elliott
Elliott leans heavily male at 88.7% of total registrations, but 7,675 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Elliott as a male name
- Ranked #163 in 2024
- 2,219 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (2,451 births)
Elliott as a female name
- Ranked #612 in 2024
- 487 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2019 (673 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elliott leans strongly male. 38,826 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 5,044 female bearers (11.5%).
Popularity
Elliott: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elliott from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 21,566 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Elliott remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elliott 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 Elliott during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elliotts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Elliott, while Wyoming, Hawaii, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,197 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elliott
The name Elliott has its origins in the medieval English language and is a diminutive form of the name Elias, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Elijah. The name Elijah means "Yahweh is my God" in Hebrew. The diminutive form Elliott emerged in the Middle Ages, possibly as early as the 12th century.
Elliott is believed to have originated in the regions of England and Scotland, where it was a common name among both the nobility and commoners. The earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in medieval English and Scottish records, such as the Domesday Book and various parish registers.
In terms of historical references, the name Elliott does not appear to have any significant mentions in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, it has been borne by several notable figures throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Elliott was Elliott Warburton, an English author and traveler who lived from 1805 to 1852. He is best known for his travelogues, including "The Crescent and the Cross" and "Memoirs of Prince Rupert and the Cavaliers."
Another notable Elliott was Elliott Roosevelt, the son of U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was born in 1910 and served as an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II.
In the literary realm, Elliott Erwitt is a renowned French-American photographer and filmmaker born in 1928. He is known for his candid black-and-white photography and his contributions to the world of documentary filmmaking.
Elliott Carter, an American composer born in 1908 and lived until 2012, was a significant figure in the world of contemporary classical music. He is renowned for his innovative and complex compositions, which often incorporated elements of atonality and serialism.
Lastly, Elliott Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician born in 1969 and tragically passed away in 2003. He is celebrated for his introspective and melancholic songwriting, and his albums such as "Either/Or" and "XO" are widely regarded as masterpieces of indie rock.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Elliott, showcasing its enduring presence and significance across various fields and eras.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Elliott
People
Elliott + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elliott 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
Elliott: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elliott?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 59,649 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elliott 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 5,746 US residents.
Is Elliott a common name?
We classify Elliott as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 67,925 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elliott most popular?
The single biggest year for Elliott was 2019, when 3,124 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elliott is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elliott in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 43,865 people with the name Elliott, or 14.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #981 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 Elliott 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 Elliott?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elliott leans strongly male. 38,826 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 5,044 female bearers (11.5%). 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 Elliott?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elliott is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Black (10.1%) and Hispanic (8.9%). 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 Elliott most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elliott in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.2% (31,661 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 Elliott in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elliott a male name?
Yes, 88.7% of people registered as Elliott 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.
Is Elliott still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elliott 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 Elliott 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 have Elliott as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Elliott, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.