# Elmo (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/elmo/  
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 | Italian |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɛlmoʊ/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 10,338 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 10,091 / 247 (2% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 8, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From an Italian contraction of Erasmo, cognate with Erasmus. Also a German short form of Elmar. * By folk etymology seen as a short form of Elmer.

## 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, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1917 | 18 | 1,939 |
| 1918 | 11 | 2,870 |
| 1919 | 13 | 2,556 |
| 1920 | 12 | 2,776 |
| 1921 | 10 | 3,229 |
| 1922 | 13 | 2,656 |
| 1923 | 9 | 3,454 |
| 1924 | 9 | 3,473 |
| 1925 | 17 | 2,216 |
| 1926 | 10 | 3,112 |
| 1928 | 6 | 4,339 |
| 1929 | 10 | 2,988 |
| 1933 | 5 | 4,403 |
| 1936 | 6 | 3,826 |
| 1937 | 5 | 4,436 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 10 | 5,110 |
| 1991 | 12 | 4,569 |
| 1992 | 9 | 5,782 |
| 1993 | 8 | 6,397 |
| 1994 | 18 | 3,641 |
| 1996 | 7 | 7,372 |
| 1997 | 8 | 6,807 |
| 1998 | 7 | 7,832 |
| 1999 | 6 | 9,049 |
| 2001 | 11 | 6,148 |
| 2003 | 7 | 8,946 |
| 2009 | 5 | 13,042 |
| 2013 | 5 | 12,695 |
| 2021 | 6 | 11,162 |
| 2023 | 5 | 12,781 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 3 | 2,859 |
| 2007 | 5 | 3,095 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: إِلْمُو, أَلْمُو
- Chinese: 埃爾莫 /埃尔莫, 埃爾摩 /埃尔摩
- Finnish: Elmo
- Japanese: エルモ
- Korean: 엘모
- Polish: Elmo
- Portuguese: Telmo
- Russian: Элмо

## People named Elmo

- Elmo Lincoln, American film actor (1889-1952)
- Elmo Nüganen, Estonian actor and director of both film and theatre (born 1962)
- Elmo Williams, American film editor, producer and director (1913-2015)
- Elmo Hope, American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger (1923-1967)
- Elmo Smith, American politician (1909-1968)

## 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.