Name Awesome

Elin

#3,077 in 2025Girls' name

To shine, warm, smoulder, burn, through Helene

Elin has been given to 5,204 babies in the U.S. since 1893. In 2025 it ranked #3,077 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2011, with 428 recorded.

Babies named Elin, 2025

1 in 62,600

Elin over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elin: meaning, origin, and history

To shine, warm, smoulder, burn, through Helene

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Elin means

Elin belongs to the name family reached through Elin → Helene → Ἑλένη. Its meaning is “to shine, warm, smoulder, burn”.

Origin, language, and formation

Elin is used in Danish, Faroese, Norwegian and Swedish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Helene, Helena and Ἑλένη.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 5,052 girls were recorded with the name Elin between 1893 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 428 in 2011; its best national rank was #662 in 2011.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,581 in 2020 to #3,077 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #923 in 2015 to #3,077 in 2025.

In the United States, 152 boys were recorded with the name Elin between 1992 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 16 in 2010; its best national rank was #5,553 in 2010.

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 Elin?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 62,600
53 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 30,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#3,077
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
43,358 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elin 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 43,358 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elin. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Elins were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elin was born before 2012 — so the typical Elin is around 13 today.

Median birth year
2012
About 13 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
60.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
78.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,600
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 60.0% of all recorded uses (3,032).

Is Elin 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
−539
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−1,496
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−2,154
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.18×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
12.4%
Peak was 2011 (428)
Years since peak
14
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
41.1% average annual change
Best rank ever
#662
2011

Spellings of Elin

Elin is not the most common spelling — Helen is, with 26.9% against Elin's 0.13%.

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 Elin is used

Across 2016–2025, Elin was most concentrated in Minnesota — about 1 in 1,351 girls, against 1 in 11,786 across all states with data. It was least common in Missouri (1 in 50,000).

274 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Minnesota1 in 1,351
  2. 2North Dakota1 in 2,174
  3. 3Iowa1 in 5,882
  4. 4Colorado1 in 6,667
  5. 5Washington1 in 7,143
  6. 6Wisconsin1 in 7,692
  7. 7Illinois1 in 8,333
  8. 8Massachusetts1 in 8,333

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.

Elin around the world

Where Elin 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
    1996–2025
    #872
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2003–2019
    #560
    in 2019
  • Northern Ireland
    2010–2010
    #430
    in 2010
  • Ireland
    2010–2025
    #885
    in 2025
  • France
    1991–2025
    #3,790
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #259
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2006–2024
    #1,968
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1961–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Elin

People whose public names include Elin, 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.

Elin in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Elin. Linked forms have their own page here.

ElenElynElinaElineEllin

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Elin by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#3,077
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 1,496
Best rank ever
#662
2011
Peak year
2011
428 that year
First recorded
1893
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
5,052
Count in 2025
53

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,553
2010
Peak year
2010
16 that year
First recorded
1992
Last recorded
2022
All-time count
152
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Elin

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

EliaElinaElidaElifEliciaEliElisiaElishaEliyaElieElioraElizEliyahElisElissaElijahEliotElinorElisaElinoreRylinCailinEliahElim

Names with a curve like Elin

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

TenleyTemperanceMilaniaJordynnNahlaKenleyAubriKinleeTarajiGiulianaBrayleeJaylah

Sibling names for Elin

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 Elin

Top names of 2011, Elin's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2011Girls' names starting with EHelen Variations & NicknamesIcelandic Girl NamesSwedish Girl Names