Eli

What Eli means

Means “ascent”

From Hebrew עֵלִי (“ascent”); cognate to the Arabic-derived Ali.

Source: Wiktionary, “Eli” (revision 93951991), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Eli?

US: Falling: down from #53 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #119 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2012, when 8,079 boys got the name (#43 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 500 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 729 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 893 baby boys 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 ME (5.46 per 1,000 boys), AK (4.84 per 1,000 boys), WV (3.9 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Eli is #104 in the US and #137 in England & Wales (2025).

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.0% of US babies named Eli were boys.

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

• Ali1,116 US · 502 E&W
• Ely49 US · 3 E&W
• Eloy41 US
• Oli15 US · 23 E&W
• Ilai23 US · 4 E&W
• Ole21 US
• Elai16 US · 3 E&W
• Aly14 US · 4 E&W

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 Eli

Boys

• Abram#742“father + high, exalted”^*
• Jude#155possibly “praised”^*
• Titus#358“honorable”^*
• Josiah#54Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #54 vs #226 in 2025
• Nehemiah#429“consolation of Yahweh”^*
• Micah#90“who is like Yahweh”^*

For a sister

• Lilah#179Editor’s note Up from #314 in 2015 to #179 in 2025 in the US
• Lydia#92“the region of Lydia”^*
• Hadassah#569“myrtle”^*
• Ava#11Editor’s note Down from #4 in 2015 to #11 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 210 US girls in the 2025 records
• Eden#70possibly “steppe, garden”^*
• Briella#362Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1993, with 7 babies

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