NameRealm
Elijah

Elijah: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“my God is Yahweh”
Origin
Hebrew
Say it
ih-LY-juh · 3 syllables
Used for
Boys

From Hebrew Eliyahu, the name of a major biblical prophet. Elijah has many forms across languages, including Elias and Élie.

Hebrew namesEnglish namesNames meaning faithBiblical namesClassic namesInternational names

How popular is Elijah?

20243,364 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Elijah in 202411,197

2024 rank#8 boys

Peak year2020

Total US babies since 1880370,593

Elijah has been fairly stable over the last fifteen years.

Names like Elijah

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Alijahmy God is Yahweh · Hebrew
  • EliaYahweh is my God · Italian
  • Ellisonson of Ellis · English
  • Ilyasthe Lord is my God · Arabic
  • Eliyahumy God is Yahweh · Hebrew
  • Eliotthe Lord is my God · Hebrew
  • Elliottethe Lord is my God · French
  • Noahrest; comfort · Hebrew

Elijah questions

What does the name Elijah mean?

Elijah means "my God is Yahweh". It comes from Hebrew. From Hebrew Eliyahu, the name of a major biblical prophet. Elijah has many forms across languages, including Elias and Élie.

Is Elijah a boy or girl name?

Elijah is mainly a boy's name in US records (100% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Elijah?

11,197 US babies were named Elijah in 2024. Its peak year was 2020.

How do you pronounce Elijah?

Elijah is usually pronounced ih-LY-juh.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.