Elan
Elan was given to 54 boys in 2025, #2,490 among boys’ names; 4,331 Americans have been recorded with it since 1963 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,220 Americans named Elan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 19 years old and half are between 11 and 33.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Elan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Elan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Elan is “a male given name from Hebrew, variant of Elon.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Elan?
#2,490 among boys’ names, 2025
Elan fell from #1,455 in 2015 to #2,490 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 60.5 to 31.6 per million.
153 babies in 2012, the peak
Elan peaked in 2012, when 153 babies were given it (131 boys, #1,310 among boys’ names). The 59 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 39% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #15,552 | 54 | #2,490 |
| 2024 | 8 | #11,378 | 50 | #2,644 |
| 2023 | 10 | #9,799 | 63 | #2,251 |
| 2022 | 10 | #9,888 | 81 | #1,922 |
| 2021 | 8 | #11,398 | 95 | #1,712 |
| 2020 | 6 | #13,904 | 76 | #1,927 |
| 2019 | 12 | #8,723 | 113 | #1,510 |
| 2018 | 14 | #7,882 | 116 | #1,494 |
| 2017 | 12 | #8,936 | 130 | #1,367 |
| 2016 | 17 | #6,998 | 125 | #1,404 |
Every recorded year (62)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 18 | #6,803 | 116 | #1,455 |
| 2014 | 18 | #6,791 | 131 | #1,330 |
| 2013 | 23 | #5,701 | 127 | #1,340 |
| 2012 | 22 | #5,962 | 131 | #1,310 |
| 2011 | 16 | #7,526 | 136 | #1,266 |
| 2010 | 26 | #5,288 | 109 | #1,496 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,117 | 93 | #1,691 |
| 2008 | 22 | #6,193 | 87 | #1,742 |
| 2007 | 12 | #9,716 | 107 | #1,489 |
| 2006 | 8 | #12,734 | 75 | #1,828 |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,352 | 77 | #1,725 |
| 2004 | 18 | #6,566 | 68 | #1,817 |
| 2003 | 10 | #9,874 | 89 | #1,467 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,797 | 68 | #1,706 |
| 2001 | 8 | #11,316 | 75 | #1,590 |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,830 | 55 | #1,897 |
| 1999 | 20 | #5,277 | 50 | #1,938 |
| 1998 | 20 | #5,192 | 51 | #1,905 |
| 1997 | 11 | #7,921 | 50 | #1,861 |
| 1996 | 10 | #8,337 | 48 | #1,875 |
| 1995 | 15 | #6,045 | 44 | #1,923 |
| 1994 | 10 | #8,311 | 50 | #1,753 |
| 1993 | 20 | #4,870 | 35 | #2,223 |
| 1992 | 13 | #6,752 | 45 | #1,818 |
| 1991 | 16 | #5,736 | 30 | #2,353 |
| 1990 | 19 | #4,914 | 38 | #1,977 |
| 1989 | 19 | #4,716 | 51 | #1,568 |
| 1988 | 10 | #7,277 | 50 | #1,501 |
| 1987 | 18 | #4,520 | 47 | #1,510 |
| 1986 | 23 | #3,668 | 49 | #1,421 |
| 1985 | 16 | #4,688 | 25 | #2,186 |
| 1984 | 41 | #2,349 | 43 | #1,464 |
| 1983 | 9 | #6,863 | 33 | #1,722 |
| 1982 | 13 | #5,291 | 38 | #1,602 |
| 1981 | 8 | #7,597 | 30 | #1,867 |
| 1980 | 16 | #4,573 | 28 | #1,976 |
| 1979 | 11 | #5,851 | 36 | #1,603 |
| 1978 | 11 | #5,659 | 26 | #1,931 |
| 1977 | 11 | #5,608 | 27 | #1,873 |
| 1976 | 7 | #7,514 | 18 | #2,447 |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,280 | 16 | #2,561 |
| 1974 | 9 | #5,888 | 17 | #2,384 |
| 1973 | 7 | #6,862 | 9 | #3,523 |
| 1972 | 7 | #6,746 | 13 | #2,715 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,166 | 19 | #2,152 |
| 1970 | 15 | #3,920 | 20 | #2,013 |
| 1969 | 19 | #3,124 | 10 | #2,921 |
| 1968 | under 5 | 14 | #2,230 | |
| 1967 | under 5 | 9 | #2,832 | |
| 1965 | under 5 | 6 | #3,646 | |
| 1964 | under 5 | 6 | #3,738 | |
| 1963 | under 5 | 5 | #4,220 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Elan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 4,331 Americans recorded as Elan, 18% are girls and 82% boys. In 2025 it went to 5 girls and 54 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Elan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Elan, and how old are they?
4,220 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 4,331 Americans ever recorded as Elan. The median Elan alive today is 19 years old; half are between 11 and 33.
The 2020 Census counted 3,834 people named Elan (826 women and girls, 3,008 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,806 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 9 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 359 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 876 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,550 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,430 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Elan born?
The states with the most babies named Elan are California, Florida and New York, with 82% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 8 | #1,874 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 8 | #1,389 | 0.6× |
| New York | 7 | #1,458 | 2.1× |
| Texas | 5 | #2,680 | 0.4× |
Where Elan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Elan is most over-represented in New York: since 1963 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Elan with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 24,848 babies since 1880, Elan is the second most given (17% of them). In 2025 it was given to 59 of their 2,849 babies (2.1%), the fourth most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Elan
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Elan and names like it
- Compare Elan and ElianBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sElan peaked in 2012.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Elan since 1910.
- The top names of 2012The year the most babies were named Elan.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Elan alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with EMost given first.