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Elder

#2,725 in 2025Boys' name

Variant of Hélder

Elder has been given to 2,320 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #2,725 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 58 recorded.

Babies named Elder, 2025

1 in 70,500

Elder over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elder: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Hélder

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Elder means

Elder is a variant of Hélder.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Hélder.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,268 boys were recorded with the name Elder between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 58 in 2024; its best national rank was #556 in 1899.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,512 in 2020 to #2,725 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #3,456 in 2015 to #2,725 in 2025.

In the United States, 52 girls were recorded with the name Elder between 1915 and 1942. Its highest annual count was 10 in 1924; its best national rank was #3,202 in 1924.

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 Elder?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 70,500
47 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 36,300
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,725
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
48,893 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elder sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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 48,893 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elder. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Elders were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elder was born before 1997 — so the typical Elder is around 28 today.

Median birth year
1997
About 28 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
18.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
45.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,505
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 18.6% of all recorded uses (422).

Is Elder 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
−328
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+787
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+731
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.47×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
81.0%
Peak was 2024 (58)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#556
1899

Spellings of Elder

Elder is not the most common spelling — Elmer is, with 35.7% against Elder's 0.62%.

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 Elder is used

Across 1910–2025, Elder was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 147,005 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 50,000
  2. 2Georgia1 in 100,000
  3. 3Maryland1 in 100,000
  4. 4Texas1 in 100,000
  5. 5Arizona1 in —
  6. 6Florida1 in —
  7. 7Mississippi1 in —
  8. 8New Jersey1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Elder has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Elder around the world

Where Elder 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.

  • France
    1968–2009
    #5,554
    in 2009
  • South Australia
    1958–1958
    #433
    in 1958

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Elder

People whose public names include Elder, 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.

Elder by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,725
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 787
Best rank ever
#556
1899
Peak year
2024
58 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,268
Count in 2025
47

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,202
1924
Peak year
1924
10 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
1942
All-time count
52
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Elder

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

EldenEldinEnderNaderAlderRiderAnderCalderWylderVanderSanderEiderEderEldarEldonEldredRhyderLanderHaiderBaderEldorEdderEldridgeEldrick

Names with a curve like Elder

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

AlphaArminAmonHadleyEdsonHeberNolenHazenMaconAkiraHamptonNile

Sibling names for Elder

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 Elder

Top names of 2024, Elder's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1899Boys' names starting with E