Elaine

What Elaine means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Elaine yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1947, with 7,059 babies; 1,007 in 2025 Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Elaine?

US: Rising: up from #674 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #2070 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1945, when 5,887 girls got the name (#44 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,596 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 8,734 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 4,473 baby girls in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DE (2.22 per 1,000 girls), IA (2.12 per 1,000 girls), SD (1.97 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Elaine is #304 in the US and #1133 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Elaine were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Elin53 US · 40 E&W
• Aline44 US · 5 E&W
• Elayne40 US
• Eline14 US · 9 E&W
• Elan5 US · 11 E&W
• Elene13 US
• Alaine11 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Elaine

Girls

• Dorothy#421Editor’s note Up from #714 in 2015 to #421 in 2025 in the US
• Georgina#689Feminine form of George, meaning “farmer, earth worker”^*
• Theodora#725“God s Gift”^*
• Selene#621“light”^*
• Cleo#577Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #1,743 in 2015, #577 in 2025
• Iris#61“rainbow”^*

For a brother

• Leon#138“lion”^*
• Evander#698“good man”^*
• Theodore#4Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #99 in 2015, #4 in 2025
• Ambrose#735“immortal, divine”^*
• Niko#325Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1962, with 5 babies
• Adonis#241Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #698 in 2015, #241 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Elaine’s. Rank is US 2025.