Elijah

Where Elijah comes from

From Hebrew אליהו (Eliyahu, literally “Yahweh is my god”). Doublet of Ilya and Iliya. Compare Joel. See also Arabic إلياس.
— Wiktionary's entry for Elijah
  • Hebrew
  • 3 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #135 among boys — 100 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1897
    Elijah Muhammad born
    American religious leader
  3. 1981
    Elijah Wood born
    American actor
  4. 2020
    Peak, #4
    13,238 babies named Elijah — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2020
    The comeback
    Back to #4 after sinking to #680 in 1968.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name from Hebrew, of chiefly male usage
  • A male given name from Hebrew.
  • A female given name from Hebrew, of chiefly Philippine usage.
Namesakes
  • Elijah Wood · American actor, born 1981
  • Elijah Muhammad · American religious leader, 1897–1975
  • Elijah Just · New Zealand association football player, born 2000

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.