Elanie
A feminine name derived from the Greek Helene, meaning "light" or "bright".
Name Census estimates that about 688 living Americans carry the first name Elanie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elanie today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elanie births was 2021 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elanie. 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.
People living today
688
~ 1 in 498,189 Americans
Peak year
2021
52 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,979
Tracked since 1959
Census
Elanie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 613 people with the first name Elanie, which placed it at #17,806 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
#17,806
National first-name rank
People counted
613
613 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
45.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elanie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elanie is Hispanic at 45.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.6%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Elanie 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 Elanie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino45.4% · 278
- White31.6% · 194
- Black or African American13.2% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 39
- Two or more races2.6% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
Popularity
Elanie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elanie from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 269 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Elanie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elanie 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 Elanie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elanies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Elanie, while Florida, Arizona, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 46 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elanie
The name Elanie has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the feminine form of the name Elias, which means "Jehovah is God" or "The Lord is my God." It is believed to have emerged during the Byzantine era, around the 5th to 6th century AD, in the regions of the Eastern Roman Empire, particularly in areas like Greece, Asia Minor, and the Balkans.
Elanie is a variation of the more common name Eleni, which is the Greek equivalent of the English name Helen. The name Eleni itself is rooted in the Ancient Greek word "Helene," meaning "torch" or "bright one." This association with light and radiance may have contributed to the popularity of the name in the early Christian era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elanie can be found in the 9th century, when a Byzantine noblewoman named Elanie of Gaeta was mentioned in historical texts. She was the wife of Docibilis I, the Duke of Gaeta, a coastal city in modern-day Italy.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Elanie. In the 11th century, Elanie of Normandy was a French noblewoman and the daughter of William the Conqueror, the first Norman King of England. Another notable Elanie was Elanie of Anjou, who lived in the 12th century and was a member of the influential House of Anjou, which ruled over parts of France and England.
In the 15th century, Elanie Burgevine was a French artist and illuminator known for her intricate illuminated manuscripts. Her work can be found in various collections across Europe, including the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris.
Moving forward in time, Elanie de Martinville was a French writer and novelist who lived in the 19th century. She is best known for her novel "Les Mémoires d'une Inconnue" ("Memoirs of an Unknown Woman"), which explored the themes of love, betrayal, and societal expectations for women during that era.
Another notable figure was Elanie Dimitrova, a Bulgarian opera singer who performed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was renowned for her powerful soprano voice and her performances in numerous operas, including those by composers like Verdi and Puccini.
People
Elanie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elanie 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
Elanie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elanie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 688 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elanie 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 498,189 US residents.
Is Elanie a common name?
We classify Elanie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 700 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elanie most popular?
The single biggest year for Elanie was 2021, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elanie is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elanie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 613 people with the name Elanie, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,806 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 Elanie 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 Elanie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elanie appears almost entirely female. Of the 614 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Elanie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elanie is Hispanic at 45.4%. The next largest groups are White (31.6%) and Black (13.2%). 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 Elanie most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elanie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.4% (278 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 Elanie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elanie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elanie 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 Elanie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elanie 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 Elanie 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 Americans are named Elanie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.