How rare is the name Eleanor?

120,071 people in the United States have the first name Eleanor, about 1 in 2,515. It ranks #467 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ELEANOR

#467

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
120,071
About
1 in 2,515
This common or more
57.2%
Who bears it

Of the 120,071 people named Eleanor, 81.3% reported their origin as White, 5.4% as Hispanic or Latino and 5.4% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Eleanor peaked in 1920, when 8,507 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1920
Births that year
8,507
In 2025*
7,654 ▼10%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 337,323 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Eleanor by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #52. The largest share of babies named Eleanor, 37.4%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#1992,136
1890s#1474,754
1900s#9710,044
1910s#5254,258
1920s#5574,964
1930s#8946,572
1940s#23123,837
1950s#45911,072
1960s#7005,938
1970s#1,0872,750
1980s#1,1792,796
1990s#9634,871
2000s#57711,192
2010s#16540,141
2020s#5541,998
Before 19012.3%
Greatest Generation 1901–2737.4%
Silent Generation 1928–4522.5%
Baby boom 1946–646.4%
Generation X 1965–801.6%
Millennials 1981–961.6%
Generation Z 1997–125.8%
2013 and later22.5%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Eleanor is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Eleanor has been most common in Massachusetts (2.4×), Vermont (2.1×), and Maine (2×), and least common in Arkansas (0.41×).

317,140 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Eleanor

#465 Cesar · 121,106#466 Parker · 120,174#468 Eileen · 119,999#469 Aubrey · 119,928

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Eleanor, most common first.

#2,823 Elinor · 8,193#4,348 Eleanore · 4,335#5,615 Eleonora · 3,012#5,841 Eleanora · 2,845#8,892 Elanor · 1,601#8,916 Elenor · 1,596#10,733 Eleonore · 1,226#12,090 Eleonor · 1,041

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