Name Awesome

Elmira

#9,025 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly noble + famous

Elmira has been given to 4,360 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #9,025 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1921, with 122 recorded.

Babies named Elmira, 2025

1 in 301,000

Elmira over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elmira: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly noble + famous

Germanic languages

What Elmira means

Elmira may mean “noble + famous”, associated with aþalaz and mēraz.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Possibly a feminine equivalent of Elmer, from Proto-Germanic *aþalaz (“noble”) + *mēraz (“famous”), as in Spanish Edelmira. Introduced through literature (Molière, Goethe).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Elmira (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Elmira is used in English and Azerbaijani. Its origins include Germanic languages.

Elmira comes through Proto-Germanic *aþalaz.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Edelmira.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Elmira is pronounced /ɛlˈmaɪɹə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,360 girls were recorded with the name Elmira between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 122 in 1921; its best national rank was #392 in 1887.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #11,394 in 2020 to #9,025 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #8,129 in 2015 to #9,025 in 2025.

How common is Elmira?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 301,000
11 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 146,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#9,025
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
208,901 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Elmira 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 208,901 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Elmira. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Elmiras were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elmira was born before 1924 — so the typical Elmira is around 101 today.

Median birth year
1924
About 101 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
20.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
3.7%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
820
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 20.7% of all recorded uses (903).

Is Elmira 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
−1,327
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+2,369
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−896
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.79×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
9.0%
Peak was 1921 (122)
Years since peak
104
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
39.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#392
1887

Spellings of Elmira

Elmira is not the most common spelling — Eliza is, with 19.5% against Elmira's 1.2%.

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 Elmira is used

Across 1910–2025, Elmira was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 16,667 girls, against 1 in 103,905 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

06 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 16,667
  2. 2Louisiana1 in 20,000
  3. 3Alabama1 in 25,000
  4. 4Georgia1 in 33,333
  5. 5Pennsylvania1 in 33,333
  6. 6Maryland1 in 100,000
  7. 7North Carolina1 in 100,000
  8. 8New Jersey1 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. Elmira has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Elmira around the world

Where Elmira 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
    2015–2025
    #4,201
    in 2025
  • France
    1909–2025
    #7,282
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2019–2019
    #2,941
    in 2019
  • South Australia
    1992–1992
    #704
    in 1992

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

Notable people named Elmira

People whose public names include Elmira, 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.

Elmira in other languages

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

MiraAlmiraElminaElmireDelmiraElmiera

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

Elmira by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#9,025
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 2,369
Best rank ever
#392
1887
Peak year
1921
122 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,360
Count in 2025
11

Names similar to Elmira

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

YaniraElminaClairaIndiraSamiraAlmiraZairaYahairaSairaZamiraYajairaKairaShiraYadiraMairaJakiraTahiraZahiraJamiraAkiraMoiraSaphiraShakiraNadira

Names with a curve like Elmira

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

DelphiaEstaAlmedaVernieJettieRayAldaVeronaVivaAlthaVergieIdella

Sibling names for Elmira

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 Elmira

Top names of 1921, Elmira's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1887Girls' names starting with EAzerbaijani Girl NamesAzerbaijani NamesKazakh Girl Names