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Cillian vs Elijah

How Cillian and Elijah compare across 146 years of US Social Security Administration baby-name records — popularity history, peak years, current rank, and which name overtook which.

Open Name Tournament

Cillian

Male · Irish

Meaning: Battle

Elijah

Male · Hebrew

Meaning: Jehovah Is God

US Popularity History — Side-by-Side

Annual US births named Cillian (boys) vs Elijah (boys), from US Social Security Administration national records.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Names appearing fewer than 5 times per year are suppressed by SSA.

Quick Stats

Metric Cillian Elijah
Peak year (most US births) 2024 — 668 boys 2011 — 13,997 boys
Peak rank #463 #13
Most recent rank (2025) #507 (595 births) #7 (11,111 births)
Total US births since 1880 2,659 345,561
Last 10 years (2016–2025) 2,659 125,763

Peak comparison takeaway

At its all-time peak, Elijah reached 13,997 US births in 2011 — 13,329 more than Cillian's peak count.

Strongest States — Last 10 Years

States where each name ranked highest, from SSA's state-level dataset. Lower average rank = name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name list.

Cillian — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 New Hampshire #239 15
2 Massachusetts #354 141
3 Connecticut #413 40
4 Oregon #476 30
5 Minnesota #509 31

Elijah — top 5 states

#StateAvg rankBirths
1 Arkansas #3 1,358
2 Louisiana #3 2,113
3 New Mexico #4 821
4 Oklahoma #4 1,558
5 Florida #4 8,344

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Data & methodology

Source: US Social Security Administration national baby names dataset 1880–2025 (CC0 public domain). Names with fewer than 5 occurrences in a given year are suppressed by SSA. State-level coverage runs 1910–2025. Crossover detection compares annual birth counts (not ranks) for each year both names appear. Methodology: see full notes. More comparisons →