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Elayne

#3,731 in 2025Girls' name

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Elayne has been given to 4,114 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #3,731 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1946, with 104 recorded.

Babies named Elayne, 2025

1 in 82,900

Elayne over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elayne: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Elayne means

Elayne is a given name.

The naming story behind Elayne

Charlotte M. Yonge’s 1884 History of Christian Names includes the exact spelling Elayne in its glossary. The entry labels it feminine and points to printed page(s) 68.

The glossary’s abbreviated description reads: “Eng. Gr. light”. This is the historical author’s wording, including its language abbreviations and any proposed interpretation. It is presented as historical evidence, not as a verified modern translation. Victorian classifications and root explanations can differ from later linguistic research.

For Elayne, the current short meaning therefore remains unconfirmed. Establishing its modern etymology requires a current reference that documents the exact form and its relationship to the proposed earlier words.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,114 girls were recorded with the name Elayne between 1912 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 104 in 1946; its best national rank was #732 in 1924.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,100 in 2020 to #3,731 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,517 in 2015 to #3,731 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Elayne?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 82,900
40 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 40,200
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,731
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
57,449 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elayne sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 57,449 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elayne. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Elaynes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elayne was born before 1948 — so the typical Elayne is around 77 today.

Median birth year
1948
About 77 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
18.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
14.6%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,954
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 18.5% of all recorded uses (761).

Is Elayne rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−71
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+369
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,786
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.67×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
38.5%
Peak was 1946 (104)
Years since peak
79
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
28.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#732
1924

Spellings of Elayne

Elayne is not the most common spelling — Elaine is, with 56.1% against Elayne's 0.88%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Elayne is used

Across 1910–2025, Elayne was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 20,000 girls, against 1 in 55,126 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

05 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 20,000
  2. 2Wisconsin1 in 25,000
  3. 3Minnesota1 in 33,333
  4. 4Illinois1 in 50,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 50,000
  6. 6Pennsylvania1 in 50,000
  7. 7California1 in 100,000
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Elayne has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Elayne around the world

Where Elayne ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • Scotland
    1979–1979
    #419
    in 1979
  • Ireland
    1979–1980
    #542
    in 1980
  • South Australia
    1949–1997
    #681
    in 1997

Popularity data from National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Elayne

People whose public names include Elayne, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Elayne by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,731
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 369
Best rank ever
#732
1924
Peak year
1946
104 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,114
Count in 2025
40

Names similar to Elayne

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ElaynaElanorElaniElanaShayneElaraElanieElannaJasmyneEvelyneElainaJazmyneLayneElayahElaRayneJocelyneElayaElariaCarolyneMadelyneElaniaElanElaysia

Names with a curve like Elayne

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Elayne, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

HortenciaCruzDomingaEileneJonnieMaryleeDelfinaArlaHerminiaMargarettJeraldineGeorgine

Sibling names for Elayne

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Elayne

Top names of 1946, Elayne's peak yearThe 1940s in fullOther names that peaked in 1924Girls' names starting with E