9BabyNames Baby names with meanings & US popularity data Italiano

Elinor

Pronunciation
[E-li-nor]
Gender
Female
Meaning
Shining Light. Variant Of Helen.
Origin
English
Merida’s mother, means “shining light.” From the Disney movie "Brave".

Elinor Popularity Snapshot

Across the entire US Social Security Administration record (1880–2024), 21,496 baby girls have been named Elinor. The name peaked in 1920 with 656 US births that year (rank #257). In 2024, ranked #1502 nationally — 1,245 places below its 1920 peak.

Top States for Elinor

Based on 1910–2024 US SSA state-level records, the three states with the most Elinor births are: New York (2,707), Massachusetts (1,654), Pennsylvania (1,469).

Other English-Origin Names Like Elinor

If you like Elinor's English origin, consider these related names: Aaric, Aarika, Aarshiya, Aase, Aasiya. Browse all English names →

6-Letter Names Starting with E

Names with Elinor's exact length and starting letter: Eachan, Eadger, Eadlin, Eadlyn, Eadric.

Quick Facts About Elinor

5,642
English baby names in our dictionary
2,251
English female names
215
6-letter E-names in our dictionary
486
E-female names total
Not in registry
US SSA records — name appears fewer than 5 times in any year

Where in the US Is Elinor Most Popular?

Average girl-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's girls-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Elinor the strongest states are Oregon, Utah, Wisconsin.

Strongest girls-name states

# State Avg rank Births
1 Oregon #596 23
2 Utah #652 18
3 Wisconsin #779 29
4 Massachusetts #807 41
5 Minnesota #830 23
6 Washington #874 29

Weakest girls-name states

# State Avg rank Births
1 Washington #874 29
2 Minnesota #830 23
3 Massachusetts #807 41
4 Wisconsin #779 29
5 Utah #652 18
6 Oregon #596 23

Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Elinor in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.

Variant Forms

NameMeaningGenderOrigin
Eleonore Shining Light. Variant Of Helen. Female French
Elinore Light Female French
Ellinor Light Female French

Looking for names like Elinor?

A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.

See all names like Elinor →

Compare Elinor to Other Popular Names

Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Elinor against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).

Compare to a different name →

Elinor Baby Name Ideas