Elsi
A feminine name of German origin meaning "pledged to God".
Name Census estimates that about 411 living Americans carry the first name Elsi. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elsi today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elsi births was 2022 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elsi. 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 Elsi with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
411
~ 1 in 833,952 Americans
Peak year
2022
29 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,214
Tracked since 1986
Census
Elsi in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,121 people with the first name Elsi, which placed it at #11,432 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
#11,432
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,121 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
81.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elsi
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elsi is Hispanic at 81.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.6%) and Black (2.8%). 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 Elsi 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 Elsi at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino81.2% · 910
- White13.6% · 153
- Black or African American2.8% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 14
- Two or more races1.0% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Elsi: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elsi from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 128 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elsi 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 Elsi during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elsis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Elsi
The name Elsi is believed to have originated from the Old Norse language, which was the language spoken by the Germanic peoples of Scandinavia during the Viking Age, approximately from the 8th to the 11th century. It is thought to be a diminutive form of the name Elisabet or Elisabeth, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Elisheva, meaning "God is my oath" or "God is abundance."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Elsi appears in the 13th century Icelandic Saga of Eric the Red, where it was mentioned as the name of a female character. This suggests that the name was in use among the Scandinavian populations during the Middle Ages.
In the 16th century, a Norwegian woman named Elsi Eriksdotter, born around 1520, gained notoriety as one of the last individuals to be accused of witchcraft and executed for it in Norway. Her tragic story has been documented in historical records and serves as a reminder of the superstitions and persecutions that occurred during that time period.
Another notable figure with the name Elsi was Elsi Borg, a Finnish writer and journalist born in 1893. She was known for her contributions to the Finnish literary scene and her works that explored themes of feminism and social issues.
In the field of music, Elsi Lintonen was a Finnish soprano and vocal teacher who lived from 1907 to 1995. She played a significant role in the development of opera and classical music education in Finland.
Elsi Giauque, born in 1900, was a Swiss physicist who made notable contributions to the field of nuclear physics. She worked alongside her husband, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist William Giauque, and their collaborative research focused on the properties of matter at extremely low temperatures.
While the name Elsi may have had its roots in Old Norse and Scandinavian culture, it has since been used across various regions and cultures, albeit with varying degrees of popularity. Its connection to the name Elisabeth and its Hebrew origins add a layer of historical significance and cultural fusion to this unique and intriguing name.
People
Elsi + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elsi 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
Elsi: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elsi?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elsi 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 833,952 US residents.
Is Elsi a common name?
We classify Elsi as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 417 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elsi most popular?
The single biggest year for Elsi was 2022, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elsi is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elsi in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,121 people with the name Elsi, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,432 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 Elsi 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 Elsi?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elsi leans strongly female. 1,112 people counted with this name were female (98.8%), compared with 13 male bearers (1.2%). 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 Elsi?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elsi is Hispanic at 81.2%. The next largest groups are White (13.6%) and Black (2.8%). 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 Elsi most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elsi in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.2% (910 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 Elsi in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elsi a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elsi 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 Elsi still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elsi 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 Elsi 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 Elsi?
See how many people share the name Elsi on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.