Elihu
Elihu was given to 14 boys in 2025, #6,212 among boys’ names; 1,236 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Elihu by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Elihu mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Elihu is “a male given name.”
(secret society): Named after Elihu Yale.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Elihu?
#6,212 among boys’ names, 2025
Elihu fell from #5,576 in 2015 to #6,212 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 8.3 to 8.2 per million.
26 babies in 1928, the peak
Elihu peaked in 1928, when 26 boys were given it, #1,461 among boys’ names. The 14 births of 2025 are 54% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 14 | #6,212 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 17 | #5,498 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 17 | #5,517 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 14 | #6,231 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 16 | #5,610 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 18 | #5,086 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 20 | #4,840 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 18 | #5,154 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 15 | #5,870 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 22 | #4,510 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (106)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #5,576 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 15 | #5,806 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 14 | #5,998 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 8 | #9,094 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 13 | #6,338 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 16 | #5,552 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 22 | #4,473 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 19 | #4,944 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 14 | #6,002 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 18 | #4,917 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 17 | #4,884 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 15 | #5,320 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 16 | #4,877 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 8 | #7,863 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 18 | #4,342 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 11 | #6,026 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 6 | #9,036 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 11 | #5,570 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 8 | #6,798 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 16 | #4,061 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 9 | #6,057 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 9 | #5,998 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 9 | #5,894 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 6 | #7,733 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 13 | #4,296 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 14 | #4,031 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 11 | #4,598 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 5 | #7,288 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 12 | #3,701 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #6,844 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 7 | #5,130 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 10 | #3,950 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,090 | under 0.01 |
| 1979 | 8 | #4,538 | under 0.01 |
| 1977 | 11 | #3,448 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 5 | #5,862 | under 0.01 |
| 1974 | 11 | #3,192 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 6 | #4,392 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 5 | #4,114 | under 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #4,228 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 7 | #3,421 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 5 | #4,232 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 8 | #3,177 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,682 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 5 | #4,104 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 7 | #3,284 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 7 | #3,243 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 12 | #2,320 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,474 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 6 | #3,457 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,120 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 7 | #3,093 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 10 | #2,494 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 8 | #2,939 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 8 | #2,761 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 5 | #3,572 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #3,688 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,016 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,242 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,374 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 9 | #2,508 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,706 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #2,545 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 7 | #2,966 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 5 | #3,817 | under 0.01 |
| 1934 | 8 | #2,802 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,128 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 10 | #2,508 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 13 | #2,132 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 11 | #2,489 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 16 | #1,952 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 26 | #1,461 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 21 | #1,708 | 0.02 |
| 1926 | 21 | #1,675 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 15 | #2,116 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 19 | #1,859 | 0.02 |
| 1923 | 7 | #3,573 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 18 | #1,914 | 0.02 |
| 1921 | 20 | #1,784 | 0.02 |
| 1920 | 15 | #2,161 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 20 | #1,712 | 0.02 |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,670 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 19 | #1,714 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,610 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 22 | #1,470 | 0.03 |
| 1914 | 20 | #1,355 | 0.03 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,712 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 14 | #1,291 | 0.03 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,428 | 0.03 |
| 1900 | 7 | #1,076 | 0.05 |
| 1897 | 6 | #978 | 0.05 |
| 1892 | 5 | #1,118 | 0.04 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,074 | 0.04 |
| 1883 | 5 | #935 | 0.05 |
| 1881 | 11 | #541 | 0.11 |
| 1880 | 6 | #848 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Elihu a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Elihu has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 106 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Elihu: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Elihu, and how old are they?
An estimated 696 Americans named Elihu and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (56% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 11 and 40. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 678 people named Elihu (14 women and girls, 664 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 649 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% above that prediction.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 170,360 babies since 1880, Elihu is the sixth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 14 of their 4,550 babies (<1%), again the sixth most given.
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 Elihu
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 Elihu and names like it
- Compare Elihu and EliBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sElihu peaked in 1928.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Elihu since 1910.
- The top names of 1928The year the most babies were named Elihu.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Elihu alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with EMost given first.