How rare is the name Elsie?

43,606 people in the United States have the first name Elsie, about 1 in 6,926. It ranks #985 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ELSIE

#985

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
43,606
About
1 in 6,926
This common or more
69.8%
Who bears it

Of the 43,606 people named Elsie, 65.4% reported their origin as White, 14.4% as Hispanic or Latino and 11.4% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Elsie peaked in 1918, when 5,221 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1918
Births that year
5,221
In 2025*
2,236 ▼57%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 190,958 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.

Elsie by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1890s, when it ranked #49. The largest share of babies named Elsie, 47.9%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#806,677
1890s#4916,456
1900s#5218,555
1910s#8039,471
1920s#11442,328
1930s#20422,513
1940s#36611,285
1950s#6975,372
1960s#1,0942,564
1970s#1,6911,295
1980s#2,0021,174
1990s#2,1071,456
2000s#1,6982,597
2010s#7199,134
2020s#41110,081
Before 190113.2%
Greatest Generation 1901–2747.9%
Silent Generation 1928–4519.3%
Baby boom 1946–645.5%
Generation X 1965–801.3%
Millennials 1981–961.1%
Generation Z 1997–122.6%
2013 and later9.1%

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 Elsie is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Elsie has been most common in North Dakota (2.7×), South Dakota (2.1×), and Virginia (2×), and least common in Nevada (0.29×).

144,864 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.

Spelled almost the same

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

Compare