How rare is the name Elinor?

8,193 people in the United States have the first name Elinor, about 1 in 36,865. It ranks #2,823 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

ELINOR

#2,823

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
8,193
About
1 in 36,865
This common or more
80.9%
Who bears it

Of the 8,193 people named Elinor, 86.4% reported their origin as White, 3.7% as Black and 3.7% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.5%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Elinor peaked in 1920, when 656 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1920
Births that year
656
In 2025*
142 ▼78%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 21,640 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.

Elinor by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1910s, when it ranked #478. The largest share of babies named Elinor, 43.1%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#1,066137
1890s#896277
1900s#653656
1910s#4784,010
1920s#5045,761
1930s#6093,762
1940s#1,0151,829
1950s#1,856836
1960s#2,870417
1970s#5,090217
1980s#5,771232
1990s#4,924405
2000s#4,161733
2010s#2,7811,424
2020s#2,625944
Before 19012.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–2743.1%
Silent Generation 1928–4528.2%
Baby boom 1946–647.6%
Generation X 1965–801.8%
Millennials 1981–962.1%
Generation Z 1997–125.7%
2013 and later9.4%

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 Elinor is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Elinor has been most common in Massachusetts (4.3×), Maine (3×), and Connecticut (2.6×), and least common in South Carolina (0.18×).

15,620 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.

Exactly as common as Elinor

1 other first name also has 8,193 people.

#2,823 Shellie · 8,193

Either side of Elinor

#2,820 Xin · 8,198#2,822 Aline · 8,195#2,823 Shellie · 8,193#2,825 Armand · 8,191

Spelled almost the same

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

#8,892 Elanor · 1,601#8,916 Elenor · 1,596#14,066 Elinore · 844#20,463 Ellinor · 505#37,148 Elnor · 211#38,539 Elynor · 199#40,051 Elinora · 187

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