Elwanda
Elwanda was last recorded in 1977, when 6 babies were given it; 1,272 Americans have been recorded with it between 1920 and 1977 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Elwanda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Elwanda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,757, in 1977; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
98 babies in 1921, the peak
Elwanda peaked in 1921, when 98 girls were given it, #739 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | 6 | #8,757 | 3.9 |
| 1974 | 6 | #7,979 | 4.1 |
| 1972 | 5 | #8,640 | 3.3 |
| 1968 | 6 | #6,464 | 3.7 |
| 1966 | 9 | #4,602 | 5.3 |
| 1965 | 7 | #5,447 | 4.0 |
| 1964 | 7 | #5,629 | 3.7 |
| 1963 | 6 | #6,068 | 3.1 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,075 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 10 | #4,338 | 5.0 |
Every recorded year (51)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 9 | #4,550 | 4.5 |
| 1959 | 9 | #4,395 | 4.4 |
| 1958 | 8 | #4,627 | 4.0 |
| 1957 | 7 | #5,045 | 3.4 |
| 1956 | 9 | #4,254 | 4.5 |
| 1955 | 7 | #4,867 | 3.6 |
| 1954 | 13 | #3,203 | 6.7 |
| 1953 | 17 | #2,621 | 9.0 |
| 1952 | 14 | #2,959 | 7.5 |
| 1951 | 17 | #2,508 | 9.4 |
| 1950 | 10 | #3,496 | 5.8 |
| 1949 | 25 | #1,932 | 14.6 |
| 1948 | 22 | #2,086 | 13.0 |
| 1947 | 29 | #1,798 | 16.4 |
| 1946 | 29 | #1,659 | 18.5 |
| 1945 | 18 | #2,005 | 13.8 |
| 1944 | 22 | #1,821 | 16.6 |
| 1943 | 17 | #2,178 | 12.2 |
| 1942 | 27 | #1,603 | 20.0 |
| 1941 | 30 | #1,427 | 24.8 |
| 1940 | 34 | #1,278 | 29.7 |
| 1939 | 36 | #1,229 | 32.8 |
| 1938 | 32 | #1,292 | 29.0 |
| 1937 | 30 | #1,339 | 28.2 |
| 1936 | 29 | #1,353 | 27.9 |
| 1935 | 23 | #1,564 | 21.9 |
| 1934 | 30 | #1,325 | 28.7 |
| 1933 | 38 | #1,146 | 37.7 |
| 1932 | 40 | #1,133 | 37.5 |
| 1931 | 43 | #1,078 | 40.4 |
| 1930 | 31 | #1,379 | 27.5 |
| 1929 | 29 | #1,424 | 26.0 |
| 1928 | 34 | #1,319 | 29.5 |
| 1927 | 49 | #1,091 | 41.1 |
| 1926 | 50 | #1,059 | 42.2 |
| 1925 | 50 | #1,080 | 41.1 |
| 1924 | 45 | #1,173 | 36.0 |
| 1923 | 54 | #1,030 | 44.8 |
| 1922 | 85 | #791 | 70.8 |
| 1921 | 98 | #739 | 79.5 |
| 1920 | 5 | #5,204 | 4.2 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Elwanda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Elwanda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 51 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Elwanda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Elwanda, and how old are they?
An estimated 375 Americans named Elwanda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (29% of everyone recorded); the median is 79 years old and half are between 70 and 86. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 483 people named Elwanda (476 women and girls, 7 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 525 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below 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).
Where are babies named Elwanda born?
The states with the most babies named Elwanda are Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma, with 75% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Arkansas and Oklahoma are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 162 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Arkansas | 155 | not ranked | 6.8× |
| Oklahoma | 90 | not ranked | 3.5× |
| Kentucky | 64 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| West Virginia | 29 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Tennessee | 23 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Missouri | 20 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Elwanda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Elwanda is most over-represented in Arkansas: since 1920 it was given 6.8 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 Elwanda with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Elwanda
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 Elwanda and names like it
- Compare Elwanda and BettylouBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sElwanda peaked in 1921.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Elwanda since 1910.
- The top names of 1921The year the most babies were named Elwanda.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Elwanda alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.