Elsa
Elsa was given to 216 girls in 2025, #1,104 among girls’ names; 30,731 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 22,300 Americans named Elsa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (73% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 14 and 56.
Elsa dropped 166 places in 2025, the #22 drop among the girls’ top 1,000 of 2024.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Elsa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Elsa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Elsa is “a female given name from German or Hebrew.”
From German Elsa, contraction of Elisabeth, occasionally used in English after its appearance in Wagner’s opera Lohengrin (1847). The common noun is after the character of the Frozen series of films.
/ˈɛlsə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Elsa?
#1,104 among girls’ names, 2025
Elsa fell from #486 in 2015 to #1,104 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 0.37 to 0.13 per 1,000.
1,140 babies in 2014, the peak
Elsa peaked in 2014, when 1,140 girls were given it, #286 among girls’ names. The 216 births of 2025 are 19% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 216 | #1,104 | 0.13 |
| 2024 | 281 | #938 | 0.17 |
| 2023 | 247 | #1,024 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 264 | #994 | 0.16 |
| 2021 | 276 | #951 | 0.17 |
| 2020 | 284 | #917 | 0.18 |
| 2019 | 350 | #791 | 0.21 |
| 2018 | 305 | #888 | 0.18 |
| 2017 | 425 | #686 | 0.25 |
| 2016 | 477 | #627 | 0.27 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 658 | #486 | 0.37 |
| 2014 | 1,140 | #286 | 0.64 |
| 2013 | 566 | #528 | 0.32 |
| 2012 | 542 | #549 | 0.31 |
| 2011 | 499 | #580 | 0.28 |
| 2010 | 487 | #603 | 0.27 |
| 2009 | 426 | #684 | 0.23 |
| 2008 | 413 | #720 | 0.22 |
| 2007 | 393 | #742 | 0.20 |
| 2006 | 350 | #785 | 0.18 |
| 2005 | 350 | #761 | 0.19 |
| 2004 | 308 | #813 | 0.17 |
| 2003 | 349 | #733 | 0.19 |
| 2002 | 283 | #824 | 0.16 |
| 2001 | 247 | #915 | 0.14 |
| 2000 | 240 | #910 | 0.13 |
| 1999 | 236 | #897 | 0.13 |
| 1998 | 200 | #998 | 0.11 |
| 1997 | 196 | #992 | 0.11 |
| 1996 | 228 | #870 | 0.13 |
| 1995 | 222 | #865 | 0.13 |
| 1994 | 227 | #863 | 0.13 |
| 1993 | 197 | #958 | 0.11 |
| 1992 | 229 | #861 | 0.12 |
| 1991 | 220 | #890 | 0.12 |
| 1990 | 242 | #814 | 0.13 |
| 1989 | 209 | #877 | 0.11 |
| 1988 | 170 | #974 | 0.10 |
| 1987 | 171 | #947 | 0.10 |
| 1986 | 199 | #837 | 0.12 |
| 1985 | 193 | #842 | 0.11 |
| 1984 | 216 | #750 | 0.13 |
| 1983 | 235 | #716 | 0.14 |
| 1982 | 206 | #787 | 0.12 |
| 1981 | 240 | #700 | 0.14 |
| 1980 | 244 | #699 | 0.15 |
| 1979 | 210 | #765 | 0.13 |
| 1978 | 225 | #703 | 0.15 |
| 1977 | 245 | #656 | 0.16 |
| 1976 | 269 | #597 | 0.18 |
| 1975 | 255 | #618 | 0.17 |
| 1974 | 254 | #613 | 0.17 |
| 1973 | 253 | #611 | 0.17 |
| 1972 | 263 | #606 | 0.17 |
| 1971 | 279 | #611 | 0.17 |
| 1970 | 298 | #588 | 0.17 |
| 1969 | 280 | #592 | 0.17 |
| 1968 | 243 | #616 | 0.15 |
| 1967 | 246 | #605 | 0.15 |
| 1966 | 295 | #552 | 0.17 |
| 1965 | 274 | #576 | 0.16 |
| 1964 | 282 | #590 | 0.15 |
| 1963 | 287 | #584 | 0.15 |
| 1962 | 275 | #603 | 0.14 |
| 1961 | 285 | #596 | 0.14 |
| 1960 | 279 | #594 | 0.14 |
| 1959 | 280 | #592 | 0.14 |
| 1958 | 287 | #586 | 0.14 |
| 1957 | 340 | #520 | 0.17 |
| 1956 | 309 | #526 | 0.15 |
| 1955 | 289 | #541 | 0.15 |
| 1954 | 248 | #565 | 0.13 |
| 1953 | 207 | #617 | 0.11 |
| 1952 | 216 | #591 | 0.12 |
| 1951 | 178 | #649 | 0.10 |
| 1950 | 154 | #694 | 0.09 |
| 1949 | 137 | #725 | 0.08 |
| 1948 | 138 | #716 | 0.08 |
| 1947 | 134 | #738 | 0.08 |
| 1946 | 113 | #772 | 0.07 |
| 1945 | 126 | #655 | 0.10 |
| 1944 | 119 | #686 | 0.09 |
| 1943 | 139 | #645 | 0.10 |
| 1942 | 136 | #643 | 0.10 |
| 1941 | 142 | #590 | 0.12 |
| 1940 | 122 | #640 | 0.11 |
| 1939 | 151 | #542 | 0.14 |
| 1938 | 125 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 129 | #592 | 0.12 |
| 1936 | 130 | #580 | 0.12 |
| 1935 | 113 | #612 | 0.11 |
| 1934 | 110 | #636 | 0.11 |
| 1933 | 124 | #576 | 0.12 |
| 1932 | 130 | #577 | 0.12 |
| 1931 | 140 | #553 | 0.13 |
| 1930 | 137 | #586 | 0.12 |
| 1929 | 128 | #606 | 0.11 |
| 1928 | 158 | #557 | 0.14 |
| 1927 | 138 | #605 | 0.12 |
| 1926 | 136 | #609 | 0.11 |
| 1925 | 141 | #616 | 0.12 |
| 1924 | 140 | #635 | 0.11 |
| 1923 | 138 | #628 | 0.11 |
| 1922 | 149 | #588 | 0.12 |
| 1921 | 154 | #583 | 0.12 |
| 1920 | 184 | #516 | 0.15 |
| 1919 | 169 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1918 | 173 | #534 | 0.15 |
| 1917 | 198 | #460 | 0.18 |
| 1916 | 201 | #446 | 0.19 |
| 1915 | 237 | #392 | 0.24 |
| 1914 | 166 | #412 | 0.22 |
| 1913 | 131 | #432 | 0.21 |
| 1912 | 120 | #429 | 0.22 |
| 1911 | 103 | #399 | 0.25 |
| 1910 | 80 | #446 | 0.20 |
| 1909 | 77 | #418 | 0.22 |
| 1908 | 93 | #372 | 0.28 |
| 1907 | 86 | #383 | 0.27 |
| 1906 | 84 | #369 | 0.28 |
| 1905 | 75 | #389 | 0.26 |
| 1904 | 75 | #379 | 0.27 |
| 1903 | 87 | #335 | 0.33 |
| 1902 | 91 | #326 | 0.34 |
| 1901 | 94 | #311 | 0.39 |
| 1900 | 102 | #335 | 0.34 |
| 1899 | 90 | #315 | 0.39 |
| 1898 | 111 | #292 | 0.43 |
| 1897 | 128 | #251 | 0.55 |
| 1896 | 129 | #251 | 0.54 |
| 1895 | 160 | #215 | 0.68 |
| 1894 | 137 | #227 | 0.61 |
| 1893 | 104 | #264 | 0.49 |
| 1892 | 142 | #216 | 0.67 |
| 1891 | 102 | #238 | 0.55 |
| 1890 | 106 | #238 | 0.56 |
| 1889 | 104 | #229 | 0.58 |
| 1888 | 87 | #250 | 0.49 |
| 1887 | 61 | #270 | 0.42 |
| 1886 | 59 | #271 | 0.41 |
| 1885 | 66 | #249 | 0.50 |
| 1884 | 51 | #273 | 0.40 |
| 1883 | 35 | #295 | 0.31 |
| 1882 | 29 | #330 | 0.27 |
| 1881 | 25 | #320 | 0.27 |
| 1880 | 20 | #369 | 0.22 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Elsa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Elsa has been given almost only to girls: 21 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Elsa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Elsa, and how old are they?
22,300 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 73% of the 30,731 Americans ever recorded as Elsa. The median Elsa alive today is 31 years old; half are between 14 and 56.
The 2020 Census counted 50,134 people named Elsa (50,020 women and girls, 114 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 21,727 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.3 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 693 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,530 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,840 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 3,310 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,460 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,450 |
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 Elsa born?
The states with the most babies named Elsa are California, New York and Texas, with 42% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 33 | #883 | 1.8× |
| New York | 16 | #955 | 1.2× |
| Texas | 15 | #1,560 | 2.1× |
| Virginia | 13 | #582 | 0.4× |
| Florida | 12 | #1,192 | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 11 | #701 | 0.5× |
| Arizona | 10 | #645 | 1.3× |
| Wisconsin | 9 | #533 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 7 | #1,152 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 7 | #1,181 | 0.3× |
Where Elsa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Elsa is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 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 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 Elsa 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 398,354 babies since 1880, Elsa is the fourth most given (7.7% of them). In 2025 it was given to 216 of their 5,052 babies (4.3%), the fifth 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 Elsa
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 Elsa and names like it
- Compare Elsa and ElsieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sElsa peaked in 2014.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Elsa since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Elsa: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2014The year the most babies were named Elsa.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Elsa alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with EMost given first.