Name Awesome

Elli

#2,966 in 2025Girls' name

To shine, warm, smoulder, burn, through Elina

Elli has been given to 2,798 babies in the U.S. since 1955. In 2025 it ranked #2,966 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2014, with 121 recorded.

Babies named Elli, 2025

1 in 59,200

Elli over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elli: meaning, origin, and history

To shine, warm, smoulder, burn, through Elina

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Elli means

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

Origin, language, and formation

Elli is used in Finnish, German and Icelandic.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elina, Elisabeth, Helena and Ἑλένη.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Elli is pronounced /ˈelːi/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,763 girls were recorded with the name Elli between 1955 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 121 in 2014; its best national rank was #1,732 in 2014.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,448 in 2020 to #2,966 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #2,042 in 2015 to #2,966 in 2025.

In the United States, 35 boys were recorded with the name Elli between 1988 and 2017. Its highest annual count was 7 in 2012; its best national rank was #7,621 in 1988.

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 Elli?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 59,200
56 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 28,700
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,966
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
41,035 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elli 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 41,035 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elli. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ellis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elli was born before 2009 — so the typical Elli is around 16 today.

Median birth year
2009
About 16 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
34.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
77.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,763
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 34.3% of all recorded uses (947).

Is Elli 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
−20
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−518
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−924
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.58×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
46.3%
Peak was 2014 (121)
Years since peak
11
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
13.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,732
2014

Spellings of Elli

Elli is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 19.3% against Elli's 0.11%.

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 Elli is used

Across 2016–2025, Elli was most concentrated in Arkansas — about 1 in 20,000 girls, against 1 in 32,370 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in 100,000).

15 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Arkansas1 in 20,000
  2. 2Texas1 in 20,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 25,000
  4. 4California1 in 33,333
  5. 5Missouri1 in 33,333
  6. 6Ohio1 in 33,333
  7. 7Washington1 in 50,000
  8. 8Illinois1 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.

Elli around the world

Where Elli 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
    #3,035
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1999–2021
    #792
    in 2021
  • Ireland
    2001–2003
    #559
    in 2003
  • France
    1906–2025
    #7,354
    in 2025
  • Norway
    2024–2025
    #162
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2003–2023
    #3,391
    in 2023
  • South Australia
    1963–2013
    #818
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, 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 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 Elli

People whose public names include Elli, 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.

Elli in other languages

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

EliAlliEllyElsiLizaVetaZetaElizaEllieEllinZettaElisavetElissavet

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

Elli by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,966
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 518
Best rank ever
#1,732
2014
Peak year
2014
121 that year
First recorded
1955
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,763
Count in 2025
56

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,621
1988
Peak year
2012
7 that year
First recorded
1988
Last recorded
2017
All-time count
35
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Elli

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

EllyEllynElliaElleeAlliEllenaEllisEllahElleElleryLilliMolliEllamaeElliotCalliElloraElloryKalliHalliEllyseElleyElliseEllyanaEllison

Names with a curve like Elli

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

ViktoriaTaleahChesneyJanellyAlonnaBaileighOlyviaNiyahKailyKiyahTaliahVianney

Sibling names for Elli

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 Elli

Top names of 2014, Elli's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2014Girls' names starting with E