Elsa
A feminine name of German/Scandinavian origin meaning "God is my oath".
Name Census estimates that about 21,351 living Americans carry the first name Elsa. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elsa today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elsa births was 2014 (1,140 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elsa. 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 Elsa with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
21K
~ 1 in 16,053 Americans
Peak year
2014
1,140 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1976 SSA rank
#938
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elsa in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 50,139 people with the first name Elsa, which placed it at #898 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
#898
National first-name rank
People counted
50K
50,139 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
16.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
69.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elsa
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elsa is Hispanic at 69.1%. The next largest groups are White (20.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Elsa 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 Elsa at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino69.1% · 34,667
- White20.3% · 10,171
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.8% · 2,926
- Black or African American3.3% · 1,666
- Two or more races1.2% · 613
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 96
Gender
Gender distribution for Elsa
Out of the 30,511 babies given the name Elsa since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Elsa as a male name
- Ranked #5,869 in 1976
- 5 male births in 1976
- Peak: 1959 (6 births)
Elsa as a female name
- Ranked #938 in 2024
- 280 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (1,140 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elsa appears almost entirely female. Of the 50,134 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Elsa: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elsa from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,449 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
Elsa 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 Elsa during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elsas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Elsa, while Rhode Island, Mississippi, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 460 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elsa
The name Elsa has its origins in the Germanic languages, specifically from the Old Norse name Elisif or Ælisif. It is believed to be a compound name, with the first part "El" derived from the Old Norse word "ælf" meaning "elf" or "fairy," and the second part "sif" meaning "relative" or "friend." Thus, the name Elsa can be interpreted to mean "elf-friend" or "fairy-friend."
The name gained widespread popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in Scandinavia and parts of northern Europe. It was a common name among the Norse and Germanic peoples, who often gave names with meanings related to nature or mythological beings.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elsa can be found in the Icelandic Sagas, a collection of medieval Icelandic literature. In the saga "Gísla saga Súrssonar," written in the 13th century, there is a character named Elsa who plays a significant role.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Elsa. One of the most famous was Elsa Brändström (1888-1948), a Swedish nurse and humanitarian who served in World War I and founded the Scandinavian Nurses' Association. Another prominent figure was Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973), an Italian fashion designer renowned for her avant-garde style and collaborations with artists like Salvador Dalí.
In the realm of literature, Elsa Triolet (1896-1970) was a Russian-French novelist and poet who won the prestigious Prix Goncourt in 1945 for her novel "Le Premier Accroc coûte 200 francs." Elsa Morante (1912-1985) was an Italian novelist and poet, celebrated for her works like "History" and "Arturo's Island."
The name Elsa has also been associated with royalty. Elsa Bernadotte (1828-1920) was a Swedish princess who married the future King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway. Elsa Pataky (born 1976) is a Spanish model and actress, known for her roles in films like "Fast & Furious" and "Furious 7," as well as being married to actor Chris Hemsworth.
While the name Elsa has maintained its popularity throughout the centuries, it gained a resurgence in recent years due to the immense success of the Disney animated film "Frozen," which featured the character Princess Elsa as one of the main protagonists.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Elsa
People
Elsa + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elsa 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
Elsa: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elsa?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21,351 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elsa 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 16,053 US residents.
Is Elsa a common name?
We classify Elsa as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30,511 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elsa most popular?
The single biggest year for Elsa was 2014, when 1,140 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elsa is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elsa in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 50,139 people with the name Elsa, or 16.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #898 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 Elsa 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 Elsa?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elsa appears almost entirely female. Of the 50,134 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Elsa?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elsa is Hispanic at 69.1%. The next largest groups are White (20.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (5.8%). 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 Elsa most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elsa in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.1% (34,667 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 Elsa in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elsa a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Elsa 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 Elsa still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elsa 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 Elsa 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 named Elsa?
Find out how many Americans are named Elsa on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.