Name Awesome

Elly

#1,613 in 2025Girls' name

Diminutive of Eleanor

Elly has been given to 4,595 babies in the U.S. since 1921. In 2025 it ranked #1,613 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2010, with 191 recorded.

Babies named Elly, 2025

1 in 25,700

Elly over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elly: meaning, origin, and history

Diminutive of Eleanor

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Elly means

Elly is a diminutive of Eleanor.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Elly → Eleanor. The family’s proposed meaning is “other”, recorded in English with the source elements alia.

Origin, language, and formation

Elly is used in Danish, German and Swedish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Eleanor and Elisabeth.

Pronunciation and spelling

In German, Elly is pronounced /ˈʔɛli/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,585 girls were recorded with the name Elly between 1921 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 191 in 2010; its best national rank was #1,254 in 2010.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #1,521 in 2020 to #1,613 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,488 in 2015 to #1,613 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 boys were recorded with the name Elly between 1977 and 2009. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1977; its best national rank was #6,147 in 1977.

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 Elly?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 25,700
129 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 12,500
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#1,613
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
17,814 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elly 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 17,814 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elly. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ellys were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elly was born before 2010 — so the typical Elly is around 15 today.

Median birth year
2010
About 15 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
35.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
74.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,490
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 35.0% of all recorded uses (1,607).

Is Elly 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
+123
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−92
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−125
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.84×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
67.5%
Peak was 2010 (191)
Years since peak
15
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,254
2010

Spellings of Elly

Elly is not the most common spelling — Emily is, with 23.4% against Elly's 0.12%.

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 Elly is used

Across 2016–2025, Elly was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 8,333 girls, against 1 in 14,034 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in 100,000).

112 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 8,333
  2. 2Oklahoma1 in 10,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 11,111
  4. 4New York1 in 11,111
  5. 5Arizona1 in 12,500
  6. 6Illinois1 in 12,500
  7. 7Texas1 in 12,500
  8. 8Ohio1 in 14,286

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.

Elly around the world

Where Elly 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
    #2,006
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1995–2022
    #760
    in 2022
  • Ireland
    2000–2024
    #898
    in 2024
  • France
    1900–2025
    #816
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #424
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2024
    #889
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1957–2013
    #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 Elly

People whose public names include Elly, 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.

Elly in other languages

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

ElyAllyEllaElleElliEllie

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

Elly by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#1,613
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 92
Best rank ever
#1,254
2010
Peak year
2010
191 that year
First recorded
1921
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,585
Count in 2025
129

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,147
1977
Peak year
1977
5 that year
First recorded
1977
Last recorded
2009
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Elly

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

ElliEllynEllisElleElleryElliaElleeElliotAllyEllenaBillyEllahMillyEllisonTillyNellyElliottEllamaeReillyElloraElloryKallyEllyseElley

Names with a curve like Elly

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

JaelKamilleElaynaLaynaNailahJazzlynKaleaMalinaMarlieCambriaHonestyTahlia

Sibling names for Elly

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 Elly

Top names of 2010, Elly's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2010Girls' names starting with EShort Danish Girl Names