Girls' name · peaked in 1884

Ellen name popularity since 1925

218,509 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Ellen. Half of them were born in 1954 or earlier, so the typical Ellen is about 72 years old in 2026. Ellen peaked in 1884 as the #59 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.

US babies since 1925: 218,509; Named Ellen, 1925–2025
Peak year: 1884; #59 for girls that year
Typical age: About 72; Median birth year 1954
In 2025: Not top 1,000; #1,062 for girls in 2025
Girls / boys: 99.7% girls; 217,895 girls · 614 boys
Most popular in: Massachusetts; 2.26× its national share

Peak year is the year Ellen made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.

Ellen births per year, 1925–2025

The biggest year on this chart was 1951. Measured as a share of all babies, Ellen peaked earlier, in 1884.

Steepest fall: Between 1995 and 2000, Ellen's share of baby girls fell by 53%, from 1 in 1,340 to 1 in 2,870.

Shaded on the chart. This compares Ellen's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Ellen.

Decade by decade

Babies named Ellen in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).

Decade	Girls	Boys	Rank
1925–29	13,678	59	–
1930s	25,139	128	#95
1940s	45,404	146	#61
1950s	55,392	115	#81
1960s	34,146	94	#117
1970s	11,422	20	#238
1980s	10,241	39	#290
1990s	11,346	13	#214
2000s	5,545	0	#555
2010s	3,987	0	#701
2020–25	1,595	0	#1,062

Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.

Generation fingerprint

45.3% of babies named Ellen from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:

Where Ellen is most popular

The index compares Ellen's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Ellen.

State	Index	Babies
Massachusetts	2.26×	11,755
New York	2.02×	33,474
District of Columbia	1.91×	1,924
Connecticut	1.79×	4,224
New Jersey	1.59×	9,545

Other spellings

Spellings that sound like Ellen and were given to at least 1,000 girls from 1925 to 2025, with the year each one was most popular.

Spelling	Girls	Peak year
Ellen (this page)	217,895	1884
Ellyn	3,681	1991

Names with a similar story

Of the other 499 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Ellen's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Ellen.

Names from the same era

Other common names that peaked within two years of Ellen (1884).

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data