Elsy
A modern feminine name of unknown origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 1,723 living Americans carry the first name Elsy. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elsy today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elsy births was 2020 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elsy. 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 Elsy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Elsy is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 198,929 Americans
Peak year
2020
135 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,196
Tracked since 1969
Census
Elsy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,695 people with the first name Elsy, which placed it at #4,105 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
#4,105
National first-name rank
People counted
4.7K
4,695 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elsy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elsy is Hispanic at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%) and White (3.5%). 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 Elsy 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 Elsy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.9% · 4,270
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 188
- White3.5% · 164
- Black or African American1.2% · 56
- Two or more races0.3% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 5
Popularity
Elsy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elsy from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 551 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elsy 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 Elsy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elsys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Elsy, while Virginia, Oregon, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elsy
The name Elsy is a diminutive form of the name Elizabeth, which has its roots in the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath." The name Elizabeth made its way into various European languages through Greek and Latin, and eventually gave rise to diminutive forms like Elsy.
Elsy was particularly popular in medieval England and parts of Europe during the Middle Ages. It was a common nickname or pet name for girls named Elizabeth, which was a widely used name among the nobility and upper classes during that time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elsy can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of a great survey of England completed in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears in various spellings, such as Elsy, Elsie, and Else.
In literature, the name Elsy appears in several works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period. For example, in the 14th-century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," one of the characters is referred to as "Elsy the Fair."
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Elsy. One of the earliest was Elsy de Gorges (c. 1125-1195), an English noblewoman and heiress who inherited vast lands in Somerset and Dorset. Another was Elsy de Ridlesford (c. 1280-1349), a wealthy landowner and benefactor of religious orders in Gloucestershire, England.
In the 16th century, Elsy (or Elsie) Masham (c. 1530-1602) was a prominent courtier and lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I of England. She was known for her intelligence and wit, and played a significant role in the cultural and intellectual life of the Elizabethan court.
Another notable figure was Elsy (or Elsie) Inglis (1864-1917), a Scottish doctor and pioneering surgeon who founded hospitals and medical units for women during World War I. She was a trailblazer in the field of medicine and a champion of women's rights.
Lastly, Elsy (or Elsie) de Wolfe (1865-1950) was an American actress, interior decorator, and writer who was a prominent figure in the early 20th century. She is credited with being one of the first professional interior decorators and is often referred to as the "Mother of Interior Decoration."
People
Elsy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elsy 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
Elsy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elsy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,723 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elsy 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 198,929 US residents.
Is Elsy a common name?
We classify Elsy as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,753 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elsy most popular?
The single biggest year for Elsy was 2020, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elsy is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elsy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,695 people with the name Elsy, or 1.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,105 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 Elsy 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 Elsy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elsy appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,691 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Elsy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elsy is Hispanic at 90.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (4.0%) and White (3.5%). 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 Elsy most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elsy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.9% (4,270 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 Elsy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elsy a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elsy 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 Elsy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elsy 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 Elsy 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 Elsy?
Want to know how many Americans are named Elsy? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.