Elder
Elder is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 58 births. Its best rank was 556th, in 1899.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 580.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 202458 births
- Best rank
- #556in 1899
- Since 1880
- 2,273people given the name
The story in the numbers
2,221 boys have been named Elder in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2024, with 58 births.
This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1996, and the 2000s alone account for 19%. It has spent 15 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 52 girls have also been given it, 2.3% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Elder | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 45 | |
| 1890s | 48 | |
| 1900s | 49 | |
| 1910s | 191 | |
| 1920s | 213 | |
| 1930s | 123 | |
| 1940s | 94 | |
| 1950s | 59 | |
| 1960s | 30 | |
| 1970s | 49 | |
| 1980s | 70 | |
| 1990s | 233 | |
| 2000s | 422 | |
| 2010s | 373 | |
| 2020s | 222 |
In 2024, its biggest year
Elder was outside the top 1,000 that year. The top five boys’ names of 2024 were Liam, Noah, Oliver, Theodore and James. See all of 2024.
Names that rose and fell with Elder
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Sampsonpeak 2017
- Anguspeak 2006
- Hamiltonpeak 2016
- Orenpeak 2021
- Fletcherpeak 2024
- Abnerpeak 2024
- Mosespeak 2016
- Emorypeak 1920
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.