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Elspeth

#7,598 in 2025Girls' name

My God is an oath, through Elizabeth

Elspeth has been given to 919 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #7,598 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1984, with 39 recorded.

Babies named Elspeth, 2025

1 in 237,000

Elspeth over time, 1880–2025

Girls
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Elspeth: meaning, origin, and history

My God is an oath, through Elizabeth

Hebrew

What Elspeth means

Elspeth belongs to the name family reached through Elspeth → Elizabeth. Its meaning is “my God is an oath”.

Origin, language, and formation

Elspeth is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Elizabeth.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 919 girls were recorded with the name Elspeth between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 39 in 1984; its best national rank was #2,437 in 1984.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,204 in 2020 to #7,598 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #8,600 in 2015 to #7,598 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 Elspeth?

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 girls only
1 in 115,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#7,598
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
164,137 kids
Even odds of a second one

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

When Elspeths were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Elspeth was born before 1992 — so the typical Elspeth is around 33 today.

Median birth year
1992
About 33 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
26.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
42.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
833
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 26.1% of all recorded uses (240).

Is Elspeth 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
−1,362
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,394
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,002
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.08×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
35.9%
Peak was 1984 (39)
Years since peak
41
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,437
1984

Spellings of Elspeth

Elspeth is the most-used spelling, taking 55.0% of the 1,671 babies given a near-identical spelling.

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 Elspeth is used

Across 1910–2025, Elspeth was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,163,867 across all states with data. It was least common in Massachusetts (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Illinois1 in —
  3. 3Massachusetts1 in —

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. Elspeth has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Elspeth around the world

Where Elspeth 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
    #997
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2025
    #387
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #3,027
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1944–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Elspeth by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#7,598
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,394
Best rank ever
#2,437
1984
Peak year
1984
39 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
919
Count in 2025
14

Names similar to Elspeth

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

ElsbethLissethJuliethGwenethAzenethJamilethYanethScarlethLisethNazarethElizbethSarabethYuliethArizbethLiliethElsabethLilybethLilibethArisbethElizethIvethDarlethElsyLizzeth

Sibling names for Elspeth

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 Elspeth

Top names of 1984, Elspeth's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1984Girls' names starting with EScottish Girl NamesScottish Names