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Elija

#6,213 in 2025Boys' name

Yahweh is my god, through Elijah

Elija has been given to 1,169 babies in the U.S. since 1889. In 2025 it ranked #6,213 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2008, with 56 recorded.

Babies named Elija, 2025

1 in 237,000

Elija over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elija: meaning, origin, and history

Yahweh is my god, through Elijah

the Bible

What Elija means

Elija belongs to the name family reached through Elija → Elijah. Its meaning is “Yahweh is my god”.

Origin, language, and formation

Elija is used in Yoruba. Its origins include the Bible.

Elija comes through English Elijah.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elijah.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Yoruba, Elija is pronounced /è.lí.d͡ʒà/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,169 boys were recorded with the name Elija between 1889 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 56 in 2008; its best national rank was #1,012 in 1889.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #4,172 in 2020 to #6,213 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,777 in 2015 to #6,213 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Elija?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 237,000
14 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 122,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#6,213
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elija 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 164,137 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elija. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Elijas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elija was born before 2007 — so the typical Elija is around 18 today.

Median birth year
2007
About 18 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
35.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
71.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,078
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 35.4% of all recorded uses (414).

Is Elija 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
+731
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,041
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−3,436
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.33×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
25.0%
Peak was 2008 (56)
Years since peak
17
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,012
1889

Spellings of Elija

Elija is not the most common spelling — Elijah is, with 49.9% against Elija's 0.15%.

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 Elija is used

Across 1910–2025, Elija was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 446,993 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2New York1 in —
  3. 3Pennsylvania1 in —
  4. 4Texas1 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. Elija has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Elija around the world

Where Elija 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
    2008–2022
    #4,790
    in 2022
  • France
    2009–2022
    #6,208
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    2012–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Elija by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#6,213
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,041
Best rank ever
#1,012
1889
Peak year
2008
56 that year
First recorded
1889
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,169
Count in 2025
14

Names similar to Elija

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

EliahElihuElighEliabEliudElierEliaEliazEligioEliyahElijhaEliottEliamElionElielElijiahEliuElieEliyasElizaEliyaEliorEliceoEliot

Sibling names for Elija

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 Elija

Top names of 2008, Elija's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1889Boys' names starting with EYoruba Boy NamesYoruba Names