Elyse
French feminine form of the Norman French variant of the biblical Elizabeth.
Name Census estimates that about 19,539 living Americans carry the first name Elyse. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elyse today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elyse births was 1987 (803 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elyse. 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 Elyse with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 17,542 Americans
Peak year
1987
803 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
1990 SSA rank
#745
Tracked since 1913
Census
Elyse in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,174 people with the first name Elyse, which placed it at #1,701 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
#1,701
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,174 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elyse
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elyse is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Black (6.1%). 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 Elyse 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 Elyse at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 13,610
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 1,916
- Black or African American6.1% · 1,112
- Two or more races4.8% · 878
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 589
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 69
Gender
Gender distribution for Elyse
Out of the 20,978 babies given the name Elyse since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Elyse as a male name
- Ranked #8,523 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1988 (7 births)
Elyse as a female name
- Ranked #745 in 2024
- 376 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1987 (803 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elyse appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,173 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Elyse: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elyse from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,577 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Elyse remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elyse 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 Elyse during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elyses live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Elyse, while Vermont, Mississippi, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 394 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elyse
The name Elyse is a French feminine form of the Greek name Elysium, which refers to the pleasant and peaceful afterlife in Greek mythology. The name has its roots in the ancient Greek word "Elysion," meaning "the Elysian fields" or "the abode of the blessed."
The name Elyse gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages, particularly among the nobility and upper classes. It was often associated with elegance, grace, and refinement. The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 13th century, when it appeared in various French literary works and historical records.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Elyse was Elyse de Lusignan, a French noblewoman born in the late 12th century. She was a prominent figure during the Crusades and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Kingdom of Cyprus.
Another historical figure bearing the name Elyse was Elyse Reclus, a 19th-century French feminist and activist. Born in 1822, she was a prominent figure in the early women's rights movement in France and fought for equal rights and education for women.
In the world of literature, Elyse was the name of a character in the novel "Les Misérables" by Victor Hugo, published in 1862. The character, Elyse Thénardier, was the daughter of the unscrupulous innkeepers, the Thénardiers, and played a minor but memorable role in the story.
In the realm of art, Elyse Delaunay was a French artist and textile designer born in 1885. She was a pioneering figure in the Orphism art movement and is renowned for her vibrant abstract paintings and textile designs.
Elyse Sewell, born in 1719, was a British botanist and natural historian. She made significant contributions to the study of plants and is particularly known for her work on the flora of the Caribbean islands.
While the name Elyse has its origins in ancient Greek mythology and gained popularity in medieval France, it has maintained its charm and elegance throughout history, gracing many notable figures across various fields.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Elyse
People
Elyse + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elyse 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
Elyse: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elyse?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,539 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elyse 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 17,542 US residents.
Is Elyse a common name?
We classify Elyse as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,978 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elyse most popular?
The single biggest year for Elyse was 1987, when 803 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elyse is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elyse in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,174 people with the name Elyse, or 6.02 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,701 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 Elyse 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 Elyse?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elyse appears almost entirely female. Of the 18,173 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Elyse?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elyse is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and Black (6.1%). 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 Elyse most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elyse in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (13,610 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 Elyse in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elyse a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Elyse 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 Elyse still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elyse 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 Elyse 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 Elyse?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.