Ellen
- Pronunciation
- [El-len]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Courage
- Origin
- Anglo
Ellen Popularity Snapshot
Across the entire US Social Security Administration record (1880–2024), 745 baby boys have been named Ellen. The name peaked in 1941 with 22 US births that year (rank #1462).
Top States for Ellen
Based on 1910–2024 US SSA state-level records, the three states with the most Ellen births are: New York (27), DC (6).
Other Anglo-Origin Names Like Ellen
If you like Ellen's Anglo origin, consider these related names: Aart, Abeodan, Ablendan, Abrecan, Acca. Browse all Anglo names →
5-Letter Names Starting with E
Names with Ellen's exact length and starting letter: Eadda, Eadig, Eagan, Eagon, Ealga.
Quick Facts About Ellen
US Popularity History (1880–2021)
Annual US births named Ellen by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1951 with 5,945 girls named Ellen (girl rank #68 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2021, ranked #920 for girls (289 US births). That's 852 places below its 1951 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Ellen 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 Ellen the strongest states are Kansas, Iowa, Utah.
Strongest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kansas | #512 | 19 |
| 2 | Iowa | #541 | 23 |
| 3 | Utah | #542 | 46 |
| 4 | Minnesota | #572 | 60 |
| 5 | Oregon | #615 | 28 |
| 6 | Kentucky | #626 | 41 |
| 7 | Wisconsin | #628 | 58 |
| 8 | Massachusetts | #652 | 71 |
| 9 | Tennessee | #672 | 89 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #674 | 26 |
Weakest girls-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Florida | #942 | 82 |
| 2 | Georgia | #911 | 68 |
| 3 | Texas | #909 | 203 |
| 4 | New York | #903 | 74 |
| 5 | California | #844 | 200 |
| 6 | North Carolina | #810 | 90 |
| 7 | Illinois | #796 | 70 |
| 8 | Pennsylvania | #783 | 76 |
| 9 | New Jersey | #777 | 37 |
| 10 | Louisiana | #766 | 24 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Ellen in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
Famous People Named Ellen
2 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Ellen.
- Ellen G White was an American evangelist and missionary, who co-founded the ‘Seventh-day Adventist Church’.
- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the current President of Liberia; she is Africa’s first elected female head of state.
Looking for names like Ellen?
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.
Compare Ellen to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Ellen against today's most popular girls-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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