Name Awesome

Elgin

#9,978 in 2025Boys' name

Literal meaning not recorded

Elgin has been given to 4,002 babies in the U.S. since 1886. In 2025 it ranked #9,978 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1920, with 69 recorded.

Babies named Elgin, 2025

1 in 474,000

Elgin over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elgin: meaning, origin, and history

Literal meaning not recorded

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Elgin means

Elgin is a given name.

Origin, language, and formation

Elgin is used in Turkish.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,959 boys were recorded with the name Elgin between 1886 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 69 in 1920; its best national rank was #639 in 1890.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,519 in 2020 to #9,978 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,009 in 2015 to #9,978 in 2025.

In the United States, 43 girls were recorded with the name Elgin between 1915 and 1932. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1927; its best national rank was #3,365 in 1927.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Elgin?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 244,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,978
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elgin 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 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elgin. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Elgins were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elgin was born before 1960 — so the typical Elgin is around 65 today.

Median birth year
1960
About 65 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
13.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
13.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,322
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 13.4% of all recorded uses (532).

Is Elgin 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
−2,058
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,459
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−5,969
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.27×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
10.1%
Peak was 1920 (69)
Years since peak
105
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#639
1890

Spellings of Elgin

Elgin is not the most common spelling — Edwin is, with 21.1% against Elgin's 0.34%.

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 Elgin is used

Across 1910–2025, Elgin was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in 50,000 boys, against 1 in 143,145 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

02 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in 50,000
  2. 2California1 in 100,000
  3. 3District of Columbia1 in 100,000
  4. 4Kentucky1 in 100,000
  5. 5Louisiana1 in 100,000
  6. 6Michigan1 in 100,000
  7. 7Oklahoma1 in 100,000
  8. 8Alabama1 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. Elgin has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Elgin around the world

Where Elgin 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.

  • England & Wales
    2011–2011
    #3,830
    in 2011
  • Canada
    2015–2018
    #2,905
    in 2018

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Elgin

People whose public names include Elgin, 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.

Elgin by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,978
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,459
Best rank ever
#639
1890
Peak year
1920
69 that year
First recorded
1886
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,959
Count in 2025
7

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,365
1927
Peak year
1927
9 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
1932
All-time count
43
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Elgin

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

ElgieRigginElgarLoginElgerElgeneElganElgiaAlginElgaKeeginKeaginVirginLeginGinTeaginLonginBurginMagin

Names with a curve like Elgin

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

JodiePrenticeGaetanoRichmondThurstonDonatoLovellAllisonRuebenTrinidadRefugioGennaro

Sibling names for Elgin

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 Elgin

Top names of 1920, Elgin's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1890Boys' names starting with ETurkish NamesUncommon Turkish Boy Names