Ellin
A feminine name derived from Ellen, itself a variation of Helen, of Greek origin meaning "bright one".
Name Census estimates that about 245 living Americans carry the first name Ellin. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ellin today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ellin births was 1948 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ellin. 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 Ellin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
245
~ 1 in 1,398,997 Americans
Peak year
1948
35 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
2023 SSA rank
#15,864
Tracked since 1918
Census
Ellin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 573 people with the first name Ellin, which placed it at #18,726 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
#18,726
National first-name rank
People counted
573
573 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ellin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ellin is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.2%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Ellin 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 Ellin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.7% · 434
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.2% · 70
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 41
- Black or African American2.8% · 16
- Two or more races1.4% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 4
Popularity
Ellin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ellin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 175 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ellin 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 Ellin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ellins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ellin
The name Ellin is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English word "ællen" or "ælenne," meaning "elder tree." It is believed to have first emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, which spanned from the 5th to the 11th centuries.
In ancient Germanic mythology, the elder tree was considered sacred and was often associated with the goddess of love and fertility, Freya. This association may have contributed to the name's popularity among the Anglo-Saxons, who embraced pagan beliefs before the widespread adoption of Christianity.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Ellin was Ellin of Tyninghame, a Scottish noblewoman who lived in the 12th century. She was the daughter of Gospatric II, Earl of Northumbria, and is mentioned in historical records as having been granted lands in East Lothian, Scotland.
During the Middle Ages, the name Ellin was relatively common in England and Scotland. It is found in various historical documents, including parish records and legal documents from the 13th to the 16th centuries.
Notable historical figures with the name Ellin include:
1. Ellin Decon (c. 1300 - unknown), an English writer and translator who was active in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. She is known for her translations of religious texts from Latin into Middle English.
2. Ellin Bor (c. 1450 - c. 1520), a Dutch painter and illuminator who was active during the Renaissance period. She is renowned for her intricate and beautifully illuminated manuscripts, which were commissioned by wealthy patrons.
3. Ellin Gosk (1572 - 1638), a Swedish noblewoman and landowner who played a significant role in the political and religious affairs of her time. She was a staunch supporter of the Protestant Reformation in Sweden and helped establish several churches and schools.
4. Ellin Debruyn (1656 - 1698), a Dutch Golden Age painter known for her still-life paintings and portraits. Her works are held in several notable collections, including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
5. Ellin Saxby (1822 - 1905), an English writer and poet who published several collections of poetry and children's stories during the Victorian era. Her works often explored themes of nature and rural life in England.
While the name Ellin has fallen out of widespread use in recent times, it remains a significant part of historical records and serves as a reminder of the rich cultural heritage and linguistic origins of English names.
People
Ellin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ellin 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
Ellin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ellin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ellin 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 1,398,997 US residents.
Is Ellin a common name?
We classify Ellin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 579 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ellin most popular?
The single biggest year for Ellin was 1948, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ellin is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ellin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 573 people with the name Ellin, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,726 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 Ellin 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 Ellin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ellin leans strongly female. 546 people counted with this name were female (97.0%), compared with 17 male bearers (3.0%). 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 Ellin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ellin is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.2%) and Hispanic (7.2%). 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 Ellin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ellin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (434 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 Ellin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ellin a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ellin 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 Ellin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ellin 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 Ellin 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 Ellin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.