Elke
Elke was given to 9 girls in 2025, #10,326 among girls’ names; 1,116 Americans have been recorded with it since 1953 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,050 Americans named Elke and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 51 years old and half are between 33 and 58.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Elke by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Elke mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Elke is “a diminutive of the female given name Adelheid, from Low German or West Frisian, popular in the mid-twentieth century”
/ɛl.kə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Elke?
#10,326 among girls’ names, 2025
Elke rose from #11,162 in 2015 to #10,326 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 5.0 to 5.6 per million.
77 babies in 1968, the peak
Elke peaked in 1968, when 77 girls were given it, #1,251 among girls’ names. The 9 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,326 | 5.6 |
| 2024 | 8 | #11,388 | 4.9 |
| 2023 | 5 | #15,858 | 3.1 |
| 2021 | 9 | #10,513 | 5.5 |
| 2020 | 10 | #9,756 | 6.2 |
| 2019 | 7 | #12,834 | 4.2 |
| 2018 | 6 | #14,314 | 3.5 |
| 2017 | 9 | #10,942 | 5.2 |
| 2016 | 9 | #11,113 | 5.1 |
| 2015 | 9 | #11,162 | 5.0 |
Every recorded year (65)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 14 | #8,180 | 7.8 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,326 | 4.6 |
| 2012 | 5 | #17,641 | 2.8 |
| 2011 | 6 | #15,394 | 3.4 |
| 2010 | 9 | #11,540 | 5.1 |
| 2009 | 11 | #10,179 | 6.0 |
| 2008 | 5 | #18,336 | 2.6 |
| 2007 | 8 | #13,035 | 4.2 |
| 2006 | 11 | #10,104 | 5.8 |
| 2005 | 11 | #9,637 | 6.0 |
| 2004 | 13 | #8,395 | 7.1 |
| 2003 | 11 | #9,233 | 6.0 |
| 2002 | 10 | #9,706 | 5.6 |
| 2001 | 6 | #14,055 | 3.3 |
| 2000 | 12 | #8,177 | 6.6 |
| 1999 | 14 | #6,928 | 7.9 |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,067 | 4.6 |
| 1996 | 6 | #12,298 | 3.4 |
| 1994 | 11 | #7,765 | 6.2 |
| 1993 | 7 | #10,920 | 3.9 |
| 1992 | 13 | #6,756 | 7.1 |
| 1991 | 9 | #8,800 | 4.8 |
| 1990 | 5 | #13,605 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 15 | #5,626 | 8.1 |
| 1988 | 5 | #12,369 | 2.8 |
| 1987 | 9 | #7,539 | 5.2 |
| 1985 | 9 | #7,120 | 5.2 |
| 1984 | 13 | #5,295 | 7.7 |
| 1983 | 11 | #5,926 | 6.6 |
| 1982 | 18 | #4,217 | 10.6 |
| 1981 | 9 | #6,951 | 5.4 |
| 1980 | 23 | #3,537 | 13.9 |
| 1979 | 27 | #3,094 | 16.8 |
| 1978 | 27 | #2,959 | 17.6 |
| 1977 | 34 | #2,528 | 22.2 |
| 1976 | 26 | #2,887 | 17.7 |
| 1975 | 26 | #2,830 | 17.8 |
| 1974 | 23 | #3,034 | 15.7 |
| 1973 | 32 | #2,367 | 21.9 |
| 1972 | 50 | #1,752 | 32.9 |
| 1971 | 39 | #2,120 | 23.4 |
| 1970 | 55 | #1,687 | 31.5 |
| 1969 | 48 | #1,763 | 28.5 |
| 1968 | 77 | #1,251 | 46.9 |
| 1967 | 56 | #1,498 | 33.9 |
| 1966 | 52 | #1,554 | 30.7 |
| 1965 | 50 | #1,581 | 28.3 |
| 1964 | 33 | #2,079 | 17.4 |
| 1963 | 14 | #3,502 | 7.3 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,070 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 9 | #4,639 | 4.5 |
| 1960 | 9 | #4,545 | 4.5 |
| 1958 | 6 | #5,608 | 3.0 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,601 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 5 | #5,915 | 2.7 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Elke a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Elke has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 65 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Elke: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Elke, and how old are they?
1,050 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,116 Americans ever recorded as Elke. The median Elke alive today is 51 years old; half are between 33 and 58.
The 2020 Census counted 3,174 people named Elke (3,164 women and girls, 10 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,027 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.1 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 75 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 594 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 136 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 138 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 102 |
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 Elke born?
The states with the most babies named Elke are California, New York and Illinois, with 89% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 108 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New York | 98 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Illinois | 23 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| New Jersey | 12 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Texas | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ 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 Elke 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 3,904 babies since 1880, Elke is the most given (29% of them). In 2025 it was given to 9 of their 49 babies (18%), the second 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 Elke
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 Elke and names like it
- Compare Elke and ElyceBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sElke peaked in 1968.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Elke since 1910.
- The top names of 1968The year the most babies were named Elke.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Elke alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with EMost given first.