Elyanah
A Hebrew name meaning "God has answered" or "God has answered my prayer".
Name Census estimates that about 138 living Americans carry the first name Elyanah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Elyanah today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elyanah births was 2012 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elyanah. 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.
People living today
138
~ 1 in 2,483,727 Americans
Peak year
2012
14 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,486
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Elyanah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elyanah from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 77 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Elyanah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elyanah 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 Elyanah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Elyanah
The name Elyanah has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a combination of two Hebrew words, "El" meaning "God" and "yanah" meaning "to mourn or lament". The name can be translated to "God mourns" or "God laments".
The earliest recorded use of the name Elyanah can be traced back to the Old Testament of the Bible. In 1 Samuel 1:20, Hannah names her son Elyanah, which means "God has answered my prayer". This biblical reference suggests that the name was already in use among the ancient Israelites.
In the Middle Ages, the name Elyanah was rarely used. It was not until the 19th century that the name started to gain popularity again, particularly among Jewish communities in Europe and America.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Elyanah was Elyanah ben Shlomo, a 14th-century Jewish scholar and commentator on the Talmud. He was born in Seville, Spain, and lived during the Golden Age of Jewish culture in Spain.
Another notable figure with the name Elyanah was Elyanah ben Yaakov, a 16th-century Italian rabbi and kabbalist. He was born in Padua, Italy, and is known for his work on the mystical aspects of Judaism.
In the 19th century, Elyanah Zvi Soloveitchik was a prominent Lithuanian rabbi and Talmudic scholar. He was born in 1805 and played a significant role in the development of the Jewish community in Lithuania.
In the 20th century, Elyanah Shmuel Zalmanov was a renowned Russian-Israeli Torah scholar and rosh yeshiva (head of a Talmudic academy). He was born in 1917 in Belarus and later immigrated to Israel, where he established a prominent yeshiva.
Another notable figure with the name Elyanah was Elyanah Kior, an Israeli writer and journalist born in 1925. He wrote extensively about the history and culture of the Yemenite Jewish community in Israel.
While the name Elyanah has Hebrew roots, it has been adopted by various cultures and communities around the world. Its biblical origins and meaning have made it a popular choice among those seeking a name with spiritual significance.
People
Elyanah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elyanah 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
Elyanah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elyanah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 138 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elyanah 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 2,483,727 US residents.
Is Elyanah a common name?
We classify Elyanah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 139 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elyanah most popular?
The single biggest year for Elyanah was 2012, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elyanah is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Elyanah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elyanah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elyanah 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 Elyanah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elyanah 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 Elyanah 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have Elyanah as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.