Elmo
A shortened form of the German name Ellmohuoch, meaning "leader prince."
Name Census estimates that about 2,228 living Americans carry the first name Elmo. It is a predominantly male name (97.6% of registrations). The average person named Elmo today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elmo births was 1920 (409 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elmo. 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 Elmo with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Elmo is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 247 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Elmo is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Elmos were born before 1964.
People living today
2.2K
~ 1 in 153,839 Americans
Peak year
1920
409 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
2023 SSA rank
#4,436
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elmo in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,483 people with the first name Elmo, which placed it at #6,458 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
#6,458
National first-name rank
People counted
2.5K
2,483 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elmo
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elmo is White at 47.3%. The next largest groups are Black (27.0%) and Hispanic (15.6%). 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 Elmo 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 Elmo at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.3% · 1,175
- Black or African American27.0% · 671
- Hispanic or Latino15.6% · 388
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.5% · 185
- Two or more races1.8% · 45
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 19
Gender
Gender distribution for Elmo
Elmo leans heavily male at 97.6% of total registrations, but 247 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Elmo as a male name
- Ranked #12,773 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1920 (397 births)
Elmo as a female name
- Ranked #4,436 in 1937
- 5 female births in 1937
- Peak: 1916 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elmo leans strongly male. 2,432 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 53 female bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Elmo: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elmo from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,987 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elmo 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 Elmo during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elmos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Elmo, while New Jersey, Massachusetts, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 184 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elmo
The name Elmo has its origins in the Germanic languages, derived from the Old German words "alja" meaning "other" and "muot" meaning "courage" or "spirit." The combination of these words formed the name "Ellemoet" or "Elmo," which can be interpreted as "foreign courage" or "strange spirit."
In the early medieval period, the name Elmo was prevalent among the Germanic tribes of central and northern Europe. It was commonly used by the Franks, Saxons, and other Germanic peoples during the 6th to 8th centuries AD. The name's popularity spread as these tribes migrated and established settlements across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elmo can be found in the Ecclesiastical History of the English People, written by the Venerable Bede in the 8th century. Bede mentions an individual named Elmo who was a prominent figure in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Elmo was associated with several notable figures. Saint Elmo, also known as Saint Erasmus or Saint Elmo, was a Christian martyr who lived in the 3rd century AD and is revered as the patron saint of sailors. The phenomenon of St. Elmo's Fire, a weather phenomenon involving luminous plasma, is named after him.
In the 11th century, Elmo de Monforten was a French knight who fought in the First Crusade and participated in the capture of Jerusalem in 1099. Another notable bearer of the name was Elmo von Hutten, a German knight and poet who lived in the 15th century and was known for his satirical works criticizing the Catholic Church.
During the Renaissance period, Elmo Biliotti was an Italian painter and architect active in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. He is best known for his work on the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence and his frescoes in the church of Santa Maria Novella.
In the 19th century, Elmo Lincoln was an American actor and film producer, best remembered for portraying the title role in the 1918 silent film "Tarzan of the Apes." He was born in 1889 and passed away in 1952.
While the name Elmo has maintained a presence throughout history, it has become less common in modern times, especially in English-speaking countries. However, it continues to be used in various forms and variations across different cultures and languages.
People
Elmo + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elmo 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
Elmo: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elmo?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,228 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elmo 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 153,839 US residents.
Is Elmo a common name?
We classify Elmo as "Rare". It ranks above 94.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,338 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elmo most popular?
The single biggest year for Elmo was 1920, when 409 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elmo is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elmo in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,483 people with the name Elmo, or 0.82 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,458 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 Elmo 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 Elmo?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elmo leans strongly male. 2,432 people counted with this name were male (97.9%), compared with 53 female bearers (2.1%). 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 Elmo?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elmo is White at 47.3%. The next largest groups are Black (27.0%) and Hispanic (15.6%). 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 Elmo most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elmo in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.3% (1,175 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 Elmo in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elmo a male name?
Yes, 97.6% of people registered as Elmo 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 Elmo still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elmo 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 Elmo 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 are called Elmo?
You can see how many people share the name Elmo on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.