Elson
Elson was given to 20 boys in 2025, #4,905 among boys’ names; 1,333 Americans have been recorded with it since 1911 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Elson by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Elson?
#4,905 among boys’ names, 2025
Elson rose from #7,202 in 2015 to #4,905 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 5.7 to 11.7 per million.
28 babies in 1924, the peak
Elson peaked in 1924, when 28 boys were given it, #1,428 among boys’ names. The 20 births of 2025 are 71% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 20 | #4,905 | 11.7 |
| 2024 | 13 | #6,557 | 7.5 |
| 2023 | 14 | #6,295 | 8.2 |
| 2022 | 10 | #7,928 | 5.7 |
| 2021 | 15 | #5,847 | 8.6 |
| 2020 | 16 | #5,520 | 9.3 |
| 2019 | 14 | #6,185 | 7.8 |
| 2018 | 18 | #5,157 | 9.9 |
| 2017 | 17 | #5,348 | 9.2 |
| 2016 | 12 | #6,840 | 6.3 |
Every recorded year (113)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 11 | #7,202 | 5.7 |
| 2014 | 16 | #5,545 | 8.3 |
| 2013 | 14 | #6,000 | 7.4 |
| 2012 | 25 | #4,041 | 13.2 |
| 2011 | 14 | #6,033 | 7.4 |
| 2010 | 7 | #9,973 | 3.6 |
| 2009 | 12 | #6,919 | 6.0 |
| 2008 | 10 | #7,859 | 4.9 |
| 2007 | 22 | #4,409 | 10.6 |
| 2006 | 14 | #5,866 | 6.8 |
| 2005 | 12 | #6,342 | 6.0 |
| 2004 | 11 | #6,668 | 5.5 |
| 2003 | 10 | #6,869 | 5.1 |
| 2002 | 8 | #7,867 | 4.1 |
| 2001 | 14 | #5,203 | 7.2 |
| 2000 | 11 | #6,029 | 5.6 |
| 1999 | 10 | #6,170 | 5.2 |
| 1998 | 12 | #5,235 | 6.3 |
| 1997 | 14 | #4,513 | 7.4 |
| 1996 | 8 | #6,681 | 4.2 |
| 1995 | 6 | #8,108 | 3.2 |
| 1994 | 8 | #6,536 | 4.1 |
| 1993 | 12 | #4,793 | 6.1 |
| 1992 | 11 | #4,979 | 5.5 |
| 1991 | 12 | #4,564 | 5.9 |
| 1990 | 13 | #4,237 | 6.3 |
| 1989 | 9 | #5,298 | 4.5 |
| 1988 | 11 | #4,248 | 5.7 |
| 1987 | 11 | #4,043 | 5.9 |
| 1986 | 8 | #4,999 | 4.3 |
| 1985 | 8 | #4,828 | 4.3 |
| 1984 | 9 | #4,299 | 5.0 |
| 1983 | 8 | #4,623 | 4.5 |
| 1982 | 15 | #3,013 | 8.3 |
| 1981 | 6 | #5,711 | 3.3 |
| 1980 | 11 | #3,691 | 6.2 |
| 1979 | 14 | #3,053 | 8.1 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,294 | 4.9 |
| 1976 | 6 | #5,121 | 3.8 |
| 1975 | 15 | #2,669 | 9.6 |
| 1974 | 11 | #3,193 | 7.0 |
| 1973 | 6 | #4,679 | 3.8 |
| 1972 | 9 | #3,420 | 5.6 |
| 1971 | 12 | #2,862 | 6.8 |
| 1970 | 10 | #3,133 | 5.4 |
| 1969 | 9 | #3,134 | 5.0 |
| 1968 | 10 | #2,791 | 5.8 |
| 1966 | 6 | #3,645 | 3.4 |
| 1965 | 5 | #4,069 | 2.7 |
| 1964 | 6 | #3,745 | 3.0 |
| 1963 | 11 | #2,579 | 5.4 |
| 1962 | 9 | #2,908 | 4.4 |
| 1961 | 5 | #4,239 | 2.4 |
| 1960 | 7 | #3,439 | 3.3 |
| 1959 | 9 | #2,890 | 4.2 |
| 1958 | 8 | #3,109 | 3.8 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,685 | 2.8 |
| 1956 | 7 | #3,297 | 3.3 |
| 1955 | 10 | #2,636 | 4.9 |
| 1954 | 8 | #3,020 | 3.9 |
| 1953 | 8 | #2,982 | 4.1 |
| 1952 | 15 | #2,029 | 7.7 |
| 1951 | 10 | #2,544 | 5.3 |
| 1950 | 7 | #3,122 | 3.9 |
| 1949 | 16 | #1,886 | 9.0 |
| 1948 | 15 | #1,966 | 8.5 |
| 1947 | 15 | #2,013 | 8.2 |
| 1946 | 9 | #2,584 | 5.5 |
| 1945 | 13 | #1,953 | 9.7 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,107 | 8.8 |
| 1943 | 12 | #2,210 | 8.4 |
| 1942 | 11 | #2,301 | 8.0 |
| 1941 | 8 | #2,715 | 6.5 |
| 1940 | 16 | #1,752 | 13.8 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,094 | 10.8 |
| 1938 | 9 | #2,533 | 8.1 |
| 1937 | 14 | #1,933 | 13.1 |
| 1936 | 18 | #1,603 | 17.4 |
| 1935 | 10 | #2,432 | 9.6 |
| 1934 | 8 | #2,805 | 7.7 |
| 1933 | 15 | #1,854 | 15.1 |
| 1932 | 10 | #2,511 | 9.6 |
| 1931 | 14 | #2,026 | 13.5 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,213 | 11.8 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,236 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 12 | #2,432 | 10.8 |
| 1927 | 10 | #2,765 | 8.9 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,229 | 12.6 |
| 1925 | 19 | #1,826 | 17.0 |
| 1924 | 28 | #1,428 | 24.7 |
| 1923 | 15 | #2,150 | 13.7 |
| 1922 | 21 | #1,712 | 19.3 |
| 1921 | 14 | #2,284 | 12.7 |
| 1920 | 21 | #1,712 | 19.7 |
| 1919 | 18 | #1,829 | 18.4 |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,671 | 20.7 |
| 1917 | 17 | #1,839 | 18.4 |
| 1916 | 16 | #1,873 | 18.0 |
| 1915 | 9 | #2,689 | 10.6 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,730 | 10.7 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,580 | 11.7 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,360 | 14.0 |
| 1911 | 7 | #1,430 | 31.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Elson a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Elson has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 113 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Elson: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Elson, and how old are they?
An estimated 814 Americans named Elson and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (61% of everyone recorded); the median is 32 years old and half are between 14 and 54. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,070 people named Elson (21 women and girls, 1,049 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 792 born in the U.S. The Census count is 35% above 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.
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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,442 babies since 1880, Elson is the most given (92% of them). In 2025 it was given to 20 of their 27 babies (74%), again the 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 Elson
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 Elson and names like it
- Compare Elson and ElisonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sElson peaked in 1924.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Elson since 1910.
- The top names of 1924The year the most babies were named Elson.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Elson alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with EMost given first.