Ilijah
Ilijah is a masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh is God".
Name Census estimates that about 568 living Americans carry the first name Ilijah. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Ilijah today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ilijah births was 2012 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ilijah. 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 Ilijah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
568
~ 1 in 603,441 Americans
Peak year
2012
32 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,607
Tracked since 1996
Census
Ilijah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 410 people with the first name Ilijah, which placed it at #23,765 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
#23,765
National first-name rank
People counted
410
410 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ilijah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilijah is Black at 37.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.2%) and White (18.8%). 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 Ilijah 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 Ilijah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.3% · 153
- Hispanic or Latino32.2% · 132
- White18.8% · 77
- Two or more races7.6% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 7
Popularity
Ilijah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ilijah from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 248 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Ilijah remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ilijah 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 Ilijah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ilijahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Ilijah, while Colorado, Georgia, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ilijah
The name Ilijah has its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the biblical name Elijah. It is a combination of the Hebrew words "El," meaning "God," and "Yahweh," which is one of the names used to refer to the God of the Israelites. The name was first recorded in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Kings, which is believed to have been written between the 7th and 6th centuries BCE.
Elijah, the biblical prophet, is one of the most prominent figures in the Old Testament. He played a significant role in the religious and political life of the ancient Israelites during the reign of King Ahab in the 9th century BCE. The name Elijah gained widespread recognition and popularity due to the prophet's influence and the many miracles attributed to him in the biblical narrative.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Ilijah can be found in ancient Hebrew texts and inscriptions. One notable example is the Moabite Stone, an inscribed stone dating back to the 9th century BCE, which mentions the name "Ilija" in reference to a person or place.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Ilijah or its variations. One of the earliest was Ilija Krivoruchka, a 12th-century Bulgarian ruler and the founder of the Shishman dynasty. Another was Ilija Garašanin, a 19th-century Serbian statesman and author of the Načertanije, a pivotal document in Serbian national policy.
In the realm of literature, Ilija Muromets is a legendary figure in Russian folklore, depicted as a powerful bogatyr (warrior) who defended the lands of ancient Rus. His exploits are celebrated in numerous bylinas (epic folk tales) and literary works.
The name Ilijah has also been carried by notable religious figures. Ilija Marković, a 17th-century Serbian Orthodox bishop, played a significant role in preserving the Serbian cultural heritage during the Ottoman occupation. Ilija Petranović, a 19th-century Serbian Orthodox priest and writer, was renowned for his contributions to Serbian literature and education.
In the arts, Ilija Repin, a 19th-century Russian painter, is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the Russian Realist movement. His works, such as "Barge Haulers on the Volga" and "Ivan the Terrible and His Son Ivan," are celebrated masterpieces of Russian art.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have carried the name Ilijah throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Ilijah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ilijah as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ilijah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ilijah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 568 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ilijah 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 603,441 US residents.
Is Ilijah a common name?
We classify Ilijah as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 573 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ilijah most popular?
The single biggest year for Ilijah was 2012, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ilijah is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ilijah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 410 people with the name Ilijah, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,765 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 Ilijah 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 Ilijah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ilijah leans strongly male. 402 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 6 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Ilijah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ilijah is Black at 37.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (32.2%) and White (18.8%). 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 Ilijah most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ilijah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.3% (153 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 Ilijah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ilijah a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ilijah 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 Ilijah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ilijah 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 Ilijah 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 Ilijah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Ilijah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.