Eligh
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "lofty" or "elevated".
Name Census estimates that about 805 living Americans carry the first name Eligh. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Eligh today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eligh births was 2014 (61 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eligh. 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 Eligh with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
805
~ 1 in 425,782 Americans
Peak year
2014
61 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,485
Tracked since 1906
Census
Eligh in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 683 people with the first name Eligh, which placed it at #16,487 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
#16,487
National first-name rank
People counted
683
683 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eligh
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eligh is White at 43.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.9%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Eligh 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 Eligh at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.8% · 299
- Hispanic or Latino36.9% · 252
- Two or more races7.8% · 53
- Black or African American6.3% · 43
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.4% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 6
Popularity
Eligh: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eligh from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 457 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eligh 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 Eligh during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elighs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Eligh
The name Eligh has its roots in ancient Semitic languages spoken in the Middle East and North Africa. It is believed to have originated from the Arabic word "ali," which means "high" or "exalted." This name was particularly popular among Arabic-speaking communities during the medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Eligh can be found in ancient Islamic texts, where it was used to refer to individuals of high social standing or those with a distinguished lineage. In some instances, the name was also associated with religious or spiritual leaders, reflecting its connotation of exaltation.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Eligh. One prominent example is Eligh ibn Abi Talib (599-661 CE), a cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, who played a crucial role in the early days of Islam and is revered by many Muslims as the first male to embrace the faith.
Another historical figure named Eligh was Eligh al-Rumi (1207-1273 CE), a renowned Persian poet, scholar, and Sufi mystic. His poetic works, such as the Masnavi, have had a profound influence on Persian literature and Sufism.
In the realm of art and culture, Eligh al-Fazari (fl. 13th century CE) was an influential Arab calligrapher and artist from the Mamluk period. His calligraphic works are considered masterpieces of Arabic calligraphy and have been preserved in various museums and collections.
During the Ottoman Empire, Eligh Pasha (1517-1571 CE) was a prominent military commander and statesman who served as the Grand Vizier, the highest-ranking political advisor to the Sultan.
In more recent times, Eligh Bador (1853-1931 CE) was an influential Egyptian historian and scholar who made significant contributions to the study of Islamic history and culture.
While the name Eligh has its roots in the Middle East and North Africa, it has been adopted and adapted by various cultures over the centuries, reflecting the rich diversity and interconnectedness of human civilizations.
People
Eligh + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eligh 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
Eligh: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eligh?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 805 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eligh 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 425,782 US residents.
Is Eligh a common name?
We classify Eligh as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,012 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eligh most popular?
The single biggest year for Eligh was 2014, when 61 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eligh is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eligh in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 683 people with the name Eligh, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,487 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 Eligh 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 Eligh?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eligh leans strongly male. 678 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 10 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Eligh?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eligh is White at 43.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (36.9%) and Two or More Races (7.8%). 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 Eligh most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Eligh in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.8% (299 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 Eligh in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eligh a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Eligh in the SSA data are male. 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 Eligh still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eligh 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 Eligh 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 the name Eligh?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Eligh, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.