Elroy
A masculine name of English origin meaning "the king's messenger".
Name Census estimates that about 3,157 living Americans carry the first name Elroy. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Elroy today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elroy births was 1922 (192 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elroy. 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 Elroy with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 108,570 Americans
Peak year
1922
192 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,216
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elroy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,052 people with the first name Elroy, which placed it at #5,569 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
#5,569
National first-name rank
People counted
3.1K
3,052 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elroy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elroy is White at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Black (41.6%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Elroy 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 Elroy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.1% · 1,286
- Black or African American41.6% · 1,271
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 151
- American Indian and Alaska Native4.8% · 148
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 117
- Two or more races2.6% · 79
Gender
Gender distribution for Elroy
Out of the 7,460 babies given the name Elroy since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Elroy as a male name
- Ranked #4,216 in 2024
- 25 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (192 births)
Elroy as a female name
- Ranked #4,420 in 1919
- 6 female births in 1919
- Peak: 1919 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elroy appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,057 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Elroy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elroy 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 1,541 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
Elroy 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 Elroy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elroys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. Wisconsin, Texas, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Elroy, while Virginia, Oklahoma, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 125 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elroy
The name Elroy is a masculine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English elements "el" meaning "elf" or "supernatural being," and "rog" meaning "famous." It is believed to have emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, around the 5th to 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elroy can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. This historical document mentions an individual named "Elroi" as a landowner in Lincolnshire.
The name Elroy gained popularity in the Middle Ages and was particularly common among the nobility and gentry of England. It is worth noting that during this time, names were often used to reflect desired qualities or aspirations for a child, and the meaning "famous elf" may have been seen as auspicious.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Elroy. One of the earliest was Elroy of Cerisy (c. 1080 - c. 1150), a Norman nobleman and crusader who fought in the First Crusade and later became the Lord of Cerisy in Normandy, France.
Another prominent figure was Elroy the Red (c. 1200 - c. 1270), a Welsh warrior and military commander who fought against the English during the conquest of Wales in the 13th century. He was known for his fiery red hair and fierce loyalty to the Welsh princes.
In the 16th century, Elroy Bartholomew (c. 1520 - 1589) was an English cartographer and explorer who accompanied Sir Francis Drake on his famous circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580. His detailed maps and charts were invaluable to the expedition.
During the American Revolutionary War, Elroy Dunbar (1744 - 1815) was a British loyalist who fought alongside the British forces against the American colonists. He later settled in Nova Scotia and became a prominent landowner and public figure.
In more recent times, Elroy Hirsch (1923 - 2004) was an American professional football player and coach. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968 and is widely regarded as one of the greatest receivers in the history of the sport.
People
Elroy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elroy 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
Elroy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elroy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,157 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elroy 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 108,570 US residents.
Is Elroy a common name?
We classify Elroy as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 7,460 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elroy most popular?
The single biggest year for Elroy was 1922, when 192 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elroy is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elroy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,052 people with the name Elroy, or 1.01 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,569 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 Elroy 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 Elroy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elroy appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,057 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Elroy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elroy is White at 42.1%. The next largest groups are Black (41.6%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Elroy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Elroy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.1% (1,286 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 Elroy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elroy a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Elroy 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 Elroy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elroy 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 Elroy 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 Elroy?
See how many Americans are named Elroy on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.