How common is the surname Elijah?

1,094 people in the United States had the surname Elijah in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 282,217 Americans. It ranked 23,283rd of 162,253 surnames.

How do you pronounce Elijah?

Elijah is /ɪˈlaɪd͡ʒə/, 3 syllables.

Is the surname Elijah getting more or less common?

More common. 855 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,094 in 2010, up 28%.

Is Elijah also a first name?

Yes. Elijah is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Elijah

A patronymic surname, carried by 1,094 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ɪˈlaɪd͡ʒə/ 3 syllables Soundex E420 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Elijah is more common than 85.7% of them.

Origin

From Hebrew אליהו (Eliyahu, literally “Yahweh is my god”). Doublet of Ilya and Iliya. Compare Joel. See also Arabic إلياس.

Elijah is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 1,094 people named Elijah in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 282,217 Americans. That is up 28% since 2000, when the Census counted 855.

#23,283

rank among US surnames

1,094

people in 2010

0.4

per 100,000 Americans

+28%

change since 2000 (was #26,761)

Who is named Elijah

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

51% of people named Elijah identified as Black (not Hispanic), 35% as white (not Hispanic) and 5.6% as two or more races.

Black (not Hispanic) 51%
White (not Hispanic) 35%
Two or more races 5.6%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 5.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 1.8%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.7%

Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Elijah

Elias

Elijah has the Soundex code E420, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code E420.

Questions

Where does the surname Elijah come from?: From Hebrew אליהו (Eliyahu, literally “Yahweh is my god”). Doublet of Ilya and Iliya. Compare Joel. See also Arabic إلياس.
How common is the surname Elijah?: 1,094 people in the United States had the surname Elijah in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 282,217 Americans. It ranked 23,283rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Elijah?: In the 2010 Census, 51% of people named Elijah identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 35% as white (not Hispanic).
How do you pronounce Elijah?: Elijah is /ɪˈlaɪd͡ʒə/, 3 syllables.
What type of surname is Elijah?: Elijah is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Elijah getting more or less common?: More common. 855 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,094 in 2010, up 28%.
Is Elijah also a first name?: Yes. Elijah is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.