Elle
A feminine name of French origin meaning "she".
Name Census estimates that about 18,368 living Americans carry the first name Elle. It sits at #479 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elle today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elle births was 2019 (890 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elle. 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 Elle with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Elle is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
18K
~ 1 in 18,660 Americans
Peak year
2019
890 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#479
Tracked since 1977
Census
Elle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,937 people with the first name Elle, which placed it at #1,830 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
#1,830
National first-name rank
People counted
16K
15,937 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elle is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Elle 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 Elle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.8% · 11,927
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 1,352
- Two or more races6.4% · 1,013
- Black or African American5.4% · 863
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 722
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 60
Popularity
Elle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elle from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 8,104 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Elle remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elle 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 Elle during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elles live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Elle, while West Virginia, New Mexico, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 362 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elle
The name Elle is derived from the French form of the name Helen, which has its origins in the ancient Greek name Helene. The name Helene is believed to have originated from the Greek word "helene," meaning "torch" or "bright one."
The name Elle first gained popularity in France during the Middle Ages, where it was used as a diminutive or shortened version of the name Helen. It was commonly used among the French nobility and upper classes.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Elle can be found in the 12th century French epic poem "The Song of Roland," where a character named Elle is mentioned.
In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy, also known as Helen of Sparta, was a famous figure whose abduction by Paris sparked the Trojan War. While not directly related to the name Elle, the mythological figure of Helen contributed to the popularity of the name and its variants across Europe.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Elle. One of the most famous was Elle Goulding, an English singer-songwriter born in 1986, known for her hits like "Lights" and "Love Me Like You Do."
Another notable Elle was Elle Macpherson, an Australian model, businesswoman, and actress born in 1964. She gained international fame as a supermodel and was nicknamed "The Body" due to her successful modeling career.
In the literary world, Elle Newmark, an American author born in 1966, is known for her historical novels, including "The Book of Unholy Mischief" and "The Salt Marsh."
Elle Fanning, born in 1998, is an American actress who began her career as a child actor and has since starred in numerous films, including "Super 8," "The Neon Demon," and "The Great."
Lastly, Elle King, an American singer-songwriter born in 1989, is known for her hit single "Ex's & Oh's," which earned her two Grammy nominations in 2016.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Elle
People
Elle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elle 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
Elle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 18,368 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elle 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 18,660 US residents.
Is Elle a common name?
We classify Elle as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 18,574 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elle most popular?
The single biggest year for Elle was 2019, when 890 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elle is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,937 people with the name Elle, or 5.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,830 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 Elle 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 Elle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elle appears almost entirely female. Of the 15,938 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 Elle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elle is White at 74.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (8.5%) and Two or More Races (6.4%). 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 Elle most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.8% (11,927 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 Elle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elle 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 Elle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elle 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 Elle 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 Elle as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.