Ilias
A masculine name of Greek origin that means "God's anointed".
Name Census estimates that about 949 living Americans carry the first name Ilias. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ilias today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilias births was 2024 (66 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilias. 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 Ilias with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
949
~ 1 in 361,174 Americans
Peak year
2024
66 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,190
Tracked since 1975
Census
Ilias in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,207 people with the first name Ilias, which placed it at #10,855 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
#10,855
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,207 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilias
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilias is White at 61.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.4%) and Black (7.1%). 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 Ilias 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 Ilias at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.9% · 747
- Hispanic or Latino20.4% · 246
- Black or African American7.1% · 86
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.1% · 61
- Two or more races4.9% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 8
Popularity
Ilias: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilias from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 396 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ilias remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ilias 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 Ilias during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ilias' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ilias, while Illinois, Colorado, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilias
The name Ilias has its origins in the Greek language, with roots dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek word "Helios," which means "sun." This connection to the sun deity suggests that the name may have been given to individuals in honor of this important celestial body in Greek mythology.
One of the earliest and most famous references to the name Ilias can be found in Homer's epic poem, the Iliad, written around the 8th century BC. In this work, Ilias is mentioned as an epithet of the city of Troy, suggesting a connection between the name and the legendary Trojan War.
The earliest recorded individual with the name Ilias appears to be Ilias of Crete, a Greek mathematician and engineer who lived in the 6th century BC. He is credited with inventing the first geometric dissection problem, which involved cutting a given geometric shape into pieces and rearranging them to form a different shape.
Another notable figure bearing the name Ilias was Ilias the Athonite, a 10th-century Byzantine monk and theologian. He played a significant role in the development of the monastic tradition on Mount Athos, a peninsula in northern Greece renowned for its monasteries.
In the 16th century, Ilias Mauromatis was a Greek scholar and humanist who lived in Venice. He was known for his translations of ancient Greek texts and his contributions to the dissemination of Greek literature during the Renaissance.
During the 19th century, Ilias Voulgaris was a Greek scholar and philosopher who played a crucial role in the Greek Enlightenment. He is remembered for his efforts to modernize education and promote the study of ancient Greek philosophy.
Ilias Tsirimokos, born in 1907 and died in 1968, was a renowned Greek novelist and playwright. His works explored themes of social injustice and the struggles of the working class, earning him a prominent place in modern Greek literature.
While the name Ilias has its roots in ancient Greece, it has been adopted and used in various cultures throughout history, reflecting the enduring influence of Greek civilization and mythology.
People
Ilias + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilias as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ilias: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilias?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 949 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilias 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 361,174 US residents.
Is Ilias a common name?
We classify Ilias as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 959 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilias most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilias was 2024, when 66 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilias is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilias in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,207 people with the name Ilias, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,855 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 Ilias 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 Ilias?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ilias appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,208 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Ilias?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilias is White at 61.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (20.4%) and Black (7.1%). 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 Ilias most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ilias in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.9% (747 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 Ilias in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilias a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ilias 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 Ilias still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilias 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 Ilias 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 common is the name Ilias?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.