Eilidh
A feminine Scottish name meaning "radiant and bright".
Name Census estimates that about 260 living Americans carry the first name Eilidh. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Eilidh today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eilidh births was 2019 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eilidh. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Eilidh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
260
~ 1 in 1,318,286 Americans
Peak year
2019
18 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,062
Tracked since 1999
Census
Eilidh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 263 people with the first name Eilidh, which placed it at #32,158 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#32,158
National first-name rank
People counted
263
263 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
82.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eilidh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eilidh is White at 82.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.4%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Eilidh described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Eilidh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White82.1% · 216
- Two or more races8.4% · 22
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 3
- Black or African American0.4% · 1
Popularity
Eilidh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eilidh from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 108 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Eilidh remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eilidh by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Eilidh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eilidh
The name Eilidh is of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Old Irish name Aílídh or Eilíd. It is believed to have roots in the Gaelic elements "ail" meaning "beauty" and "idh" meaning "girl." The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 16th century.
Eilidh is a diminutive form of the name Helen, which itself is derived from the Greek name Helene, meaning "bright one" or "shining light." The name Eilidh was particularly popular in the Scottish Highlands and Islands, where it was a well-established name among Gaelic-speaking communities.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Eilidh can be found in the 16th-century Gaelic poetry of Iain Lom, a renowned Scottish bard. In his poem "Oran do Righ Seumas," he referred to a woman named Eilidh, suggesting the name's usage during that period.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Eilidh. One of the most famous was Eilidh Nic Leòid (c. 1600-1660), a renowned poetess from the Isle of Skye, renowned for her skill in Gaelic verse and her influential role in promoting Gaelic culture and literature.
Another notable Eilidh was Eilidh MacKenzie (1788-1872), a Scottish folklorist and collector of Gaelic tales and traditions from the Highlands. Her work contributed significantly to preserving the rich oral heritage of the region.
In the 20th century, Eilidh Whiteford (born 1956) was a Scottish politician and member of the Scottish National Party, serving as a Member of Parliament for Banff and Buchan from 2010 to 2017.
Eilidh MacLeod (born 1962) is a contemporary Scottish singer and harpist, renowned for her contributions to the revival of traditional Gaelic music and culture.
Eilidh Mackenzie (born 1988) is a Scottish curler who has represented Great Britain in multiple Winter Olympics, winning a bronze medal in the women's curling event at the 2014 Sochi Games.
The name Eilidh continues to be popular in Scotland, particularly in the Highlands and Islands, where it remains a cherished part of the region's cultural heritage and linguistic traditions.
People
Eilidh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eilidh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Eilidh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eilidh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 260 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eilidh going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,318,286 US residents.
Is Eilidh a common name?
We classify Eilidh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eilidh most popular?
The single biggest year for Eilidh was 2019, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eilidh is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eilidh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 263 people with the name Eilidh, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,158 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Eilidh in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Eilidh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eilidh appears almost entirely female. Of the 264 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Eilidh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eilidh is White at 82.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.4%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Eilidh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eilidh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.1% (216 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Eilidh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eilidh a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Eilidh in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Eilidh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eilidh in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Eilidh can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Eilidh as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Eilidh, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.