Elijah

What Elijah means

Means “Yahweh is my god”

From Hebrew אליהו (Eliyahu, literally “Yahweh is my god”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Elijah” (revision 92065602), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Elijah?

US: Rising: up from #11 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #46 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2020, when 13,238 boys got the name (#4 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 154 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 164 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 258 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 HI (16.79 per 1,000 boys), AK (13.2 per 1,000 boys), WY (11.93 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Elijah is #7 in the US and #23 in England & Wales (2025).

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

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9% of US babies named Elijah 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

• Alijah651 US · 25 E&W
• Elyjah52 US · 3 E&W
• Ilijah17 US · 3 E&W
• Elija14 US
• Ellijah8 US · 4 E&W
• Alyjah8 US
• Alija5 US
• Ilija5 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 Elijah

Boys

• Malachi#134“my messenger”^*
• Isaac#47“he laughs, he will laugh”^*
• Noah#2Editor’s note Steady in the US: #1 in 2015 and #2 in 2025. About 1 in 84 US boys in the 2025 records
• Jonah#128“dove”^*
• Luke#33Editor’s note Down from #28 in 2015 to #33 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 250 US boys in the 2025 records
• Johan#572Variant of Joan, meaning “God is gracious”^*

For a sister

• Isabella#7Form of Isabel, meaning “my God is an oath”^*
• Maya#62Editor’s note Steady in the US: #68 in 2015 and #62 in 2025. About 1 in 430 US girls in the 2025 records
• Anaiah#853Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1983, with 6 babies
• Sarai#424“master, chief”^*
• Lydia#92“the region of Lydia”^*
• Azariah#630“Yah Has Helped”^*

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 Elijah’s. Rank is US 2025.