Elson
Of English origin meaning "son of the elder man or elder son".
Name Census estimates that about 839 living Americans carry the first name Elson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Elson today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elson births was 1924 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elson. 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 Elson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
839
~ 1 in 408,527 Americans
Peak year
1924
28 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,538
Tracked since 1911
Census
Elson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,069 people with the first name Elson, which placed it at #11,817 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
#11,817
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,069 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
33.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elson is White at 33.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.8%) and Hispanic (22.0%). 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 Elson 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 Elson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White33.2% · 355
- Asian and Pacific Islander22.8% · 244
- Hispanic or Latino22.0% · 235
- Black or African American17.4% · 186
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 25
- Two or more races2.2% · 24
Popularity
Elson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elson from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 167 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Elson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elson 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 Elson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Louisiana, Florida recorded the most babies named Elson, while Florida, Louisiana, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elson
The name Elson is of English origin, derived from the Old English name Ælfsige, which means "elf victory" or "victorious elf." The name was popular during the Anglo-Saxon period, particularly between the 7th and 11th centuries.
Elson can be traced back to the Old English elements "ælf" meaning "elf" or "supernatural being," and "sige" meaning "victory" or "conquest." The name was likely given to children with the hope that they would be victorious or successful in their endeavors.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elson can be found in the Domesday Book, a record of landowners in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The entry mentions an individual named Elson, who held land in the county of Wiltshire.
In the 12th century, a notable figure named Elson de Hauville was recorded as a knight and landowner in Normandy, France. He was known for his participation in the Third Crusade, which took place between 1189 and 1192.
During the 13th century, an English scholar and theologian named Elson of Tewkesbury gained recognition for his contributions to the study of canon law. He was associated with the University of Oxford and is believed to have lived between 1220 and 1290.
In the 16th century, Elson Blunt was a prominent English navigator and explorer who accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his circumnavigation of the world between 1577 and 1580. Blunt was born around 1550 and played a crucial role in the expedition's success.
Another notable figure with the name Elson was Elson Brewster, an English Puritan who was among the first settlers of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. He was born in 1593 and arrived in the New World aboard the Mayflower in 1620, becoming one of the signers of the Mayflower Compact.
While the name Elson has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, it continues to carry the essence of its Old English roots, representing victory, success, and a connection to the supernatural realm of elves.
People
Elson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elson 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
Elson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 839 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elson 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 408,527 US residents.
Is Elson a common name?
We classify Elson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,313 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elson most popular?
The single biggest year for Elson was 1924, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elson is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,069 people with the name Elson, or 0.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,817 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 Elson 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 Elson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elson leans strongly male. 1,049 people counted with this name were male (98.0%), compared with 21 female bearers (2.0%). 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 Elson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elson is White at 33.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (22.8%) and Hispanic (22.0%). 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 Elson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 33.2% (355 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 Elson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elson 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 Elson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elson 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 Elson 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 Americans are named Elson?
See how many people share the name Elson on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.