Popularity of the name Elizabeth, 1880–2025

Elizabeth was at its most popular in 1880, when 1,939 girls were given the name: about 1 in 47 girls born in the U.S. that year, ranking #4. In 2025, 6,760 girls were named Elizabeth, ranking #17. In all, Social Security counts 1,688,757 girls named Elizabeth since 1880. Social Security’s records also list 5,216 boys named Elizabeth. Its peak falls in the earliest years of the records, and counts from before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a Social Security card.

Peak year

1880

Rank in 1880

#4

Babies in 1880

1,939

Rank in 2025

#17

Total since 1880

1,688,757

Where it stands now

Over the last ten years it has slipped from #13 in 2015 to #17 in 2025, with 9,771 girls named Elizabeth in 2015 and 6,760 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Elizabeth ranked highest in the 1880s, at #4, with 25,006 girls given the name that decade. In the 2020s so far it ranks #15.

Every 20 years in the records: 1,939 in 1880 (#4), 4,096 in 1900 (#6), 15,908 in 1920 (#8), 9,955 in 1940 (#20), 18,859 in 1960 (#18), 19,529 in 1980 (#9), 15,117 in 2000 (#9) and 7,308 in 2020 (#16).

Highs and lows

The most girls given the name in a single year was 20,750, in 1990. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more girls for 1990 than for 1880, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank in any year was #3, first reached in 1887.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1880 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 girls named Elizabeth, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.