# Elihu (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/elihu/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 1,236 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 1,236 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

(secret society): Named after Elihu Yale.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 13 | 6,344 |
| 2012 | 8 | 9,100 |
| 2013 | 14 | 6,003 |
| 2014 | 15 | 5,810 |
| 2015 | 16 | 5,580 |
| 2016 | 22 | 4,511 |
| 2017 | 15 | 5,874 |
| 2018 | 18 | 5,158 |
| 2019 | 20 | 4,844 |
| 2020 | 18 | 5,090 |
| 2021 | 16 | 5,615 |
| 2022 | 14 | 6,236 |
| 2023 | 17 | 5,522 |
| 2024 | 17 | 5,502 |
| 2025 | 14 | 6,216 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 3 | 4,991 |

## People named Elihu

- Elihu Root, American politician (1845-1937)
- Elihu Thomson, American inventor (1853–1937)
- Elihu B. Washburne, American politician and diplomat (1816–1887)
- Elihu Katz, American and Israeli sociologist (1926–2021)
- Elihu Vedder, American artist (1836–1923)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.