Elvira
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "white, fair".
Name Census estimates that about 9,608 living Americans carry the first name Elvira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elvira today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elvira births was 1920 (592 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elvira. 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 Elvira with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
9.6K
~ 1 in 35,674 Americans
Peak year
1920
592 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
1946 SSA rank
#2,280
Tracked since 1880
Census
Elvira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 31,499 people with the first name Elvira, which placed it at #1,220 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
#1,220
National first-name rank
People counted
31K
31,499 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
10.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
70.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Elvira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elvira is Hispanic at 70.9%. The next largest groups are White (17.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.5%). 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 Elvira 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 Elvira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino70.9% · 22,326
- White17.3% · 5,454
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.5% · 2,378
- Black or African American3.2% · 1,000
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 204
- Two or more races0.4% · 137
Gender
Gender distribution for Elvira
Out of the 27,155 babies given the name Elvira since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Elvira as a male name
- Ranked #3,672 in 1946
- 5 male births in 1946
- Peak: 1931 (7 births)
Elvira as a female name
- Ranked #2,280 in 2024
- 81 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (592 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elvira appears almost entirely female. Of the 31,500 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Elvira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elvira 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 5,455 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
Elvira 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 Elvira during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elviras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Elvira, while West Virginia, North Dakota, South Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 529 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elvira
The name Elvira has its origins in the Spanish and Portuguese languages, derived from the Germanic elements "alf" meaning "elf" or "supernatural being" and "wair" meaning "true" or "trustworthy". It emerged during the medieval period and was particularly popular in the Iberian Peninsula.
The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 9th century, with references found in various historical documents from the region. One notable figure bearing this name was Elvira of Castile, a princess who lived in the 10th century and played a significant role in the political affairs of the Kingdom of León.
In the realm of literature, the name Elvira has been featured in several works, including the play "Don Juan Tenorio" by José Zorrilla, where it is the name of one of the main characters. This play, written in the 19th century, contributed to the popularity of the name in Spanish-speaking countries.
Among the notable historical figures who bore the name Elvira are Elvira Madigan, a Danish tightrope walker and circus performer from the late 19th century, who gained notoriety for her tragic love story. Another famous Elvira was Elvira Casati, an Italian heiress and muse to artists and writers in the early 20th century, known for her eccentric lifestyle and fashion choices.
In the realm of entertainment, the name Elvira has been associated with Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, the stage persona of American actress and comedian Cassandra Peterson, who rose to fame in the 1980s with her horror-themed comedy show.
Other notable individuals named Elvira include Elvira Nabiullina, the current Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, born in 1963, and Elvira Ramírez, a Mexican activist and social worker who fought for the rights of indigenous communities in the mid-20th century.
People
Elvira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elvira 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
Elvira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elvira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,608 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elvira 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 35,674 US residents.
Is Elvira a common name?
We classify Elvira as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27,155 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elvira most popular?
The single biggest year for Elvira was 1920, when 592 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elvira is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Elvira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 31,499 people with the name Elvira, or 10.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,220 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 Elvira 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 Elvira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Elvira appears almost entirely female. Of the 31,500 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 Elvira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Elvira is Hispanic at 70.9%. The next largest groups are White (17.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (7.5%). 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 Elvira most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Elvira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.9% (22,326 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 Elvira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elvira a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Elvira 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 Elvira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elvira 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 Elvira 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 Elvira?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Elvira at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.