Eli Name Meaning

Meaning “ascension”, Eli has mimicked his meaning by climbing the charts steadily since the early 2000s. An ancient Hebrew name, Eli is a vintage pick that’s been winning over parents with his unique sound.

Like his longer friend Elijah, Eli is a Biblical name, appearing as a high priest and father to Samuel. He’s a lovely alternative to mega-popular Noah and Jacob, packing a boatload of style in his three letters. Despite his age, he’s still in-step with modern trends like vowel name starts and endings. He also has some cool factor left over from the action flick The Book of Eli.

He’s a short and sweet pick that’s easy to spell, ideal for a little one just learning to write his name. He’s an interesting choice with a sweet feel, similar to his Biblical friend Levi.

Little Eli is in-touch with his feelings, a sensitive soul with the biggest heart. He’s compassionate as can be and is always willing to lend a helping hand. Mature for his age, he’s one that people often turn to for advice and guidance, his wisdom stretching well beyond his years. He’s a bit of an old soul, interested in vintage finds from before his time.

Infographic of Eli name meaning, which is Eli is a Hebrew name meaning ascension.
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Eli Name Popularity

How popular is the name Eli? Here’s everything we know.

Year Rank # Births % Births
1910 — 20 0.0057%
1911 — 27 0.0073%
1912 — 108 0.0214%
1913 — 109 0.0192%
1914 — 164 0.0235%
1915 — 207 0.0228%
1916 — 230 0.0238%
1917 — 185 0.0185%
1918 — 244 0.0227%
1919 — 194 0.0185%
1920 — 205 0.0184%
1921 — 236 0.0206%
1922 — 225 0.0202%
1923 — 203 0.0181%
1924 — 210 0.0181%
1925 — 244 0.0216%
1926 — 238 0.0216%
1927 — 180 0.0163%
1928 — 162 0.0151%
1929 — 138 0.0133%
1930 — 140 0.0134%
1931 — 116 0.0118%
1932 — 138 0.014%
1933 — 104 0.0112%
1934 — 122 0.0126%
1935 — 128 0.0132%
1936 — 102 0.0106%
1937 — 94 0.0095%
1938 — 67 0.0065%
1939 — 54 0.0053%
1940 — 76 0.0072%
1941 — 94 0.0084%
1942 — 82 0.0065%
1943 — 56 0.0043%
1944 — 65 0.0052%
1945 — 78 0.0064%
1946 — 45 0.003%
1947 — 90 0.0054%
1948 — 81 0.0051%
1949 — 63 0.0039%
1950 — 80 0.005%
1951 — 100 0.0059%
1952 — 73 0.0042%
1953 — 79 0.0045%
1954 — 81 0.0044%
1955 — 58 0.0032%
1956 — 110 0.0058%
1957 — 74 0.0038%
1958 — 66 0.0035%
1959 — 79 0.0042%
1960 — 85 0.0045%
1961 — 100 0.0053%
1962 — 83 0.0045%
1963 — 92 0.0051%
1964 — 79 0.0045%
1965 — 66 0.004%
1966 — 73 0.0047%
1967 — 71 0.0047%
1968 — 100 0.0067%
1969 — 77 0.005%
1970 — 171 0.0107%
1971 — 225 0.015%
1972 — 212 0.0156%
1973 — 273 0.0211%
1974 — 337 0.0259%
1975 — 277 0.0216%
1976 — 319 0.0248%
1977 — 417 0.0309%
1978 — 386 0.0287%
1979 — 448 0.0318%
1980 — 500 0.0342%
1981 — 515 0.035%
1982 — 462 0.0309%
1983 — 479 0.0325%
1984 — 466 0.0313%
1985 — 506 0.0333%
1986 — 535 0.0354%
1987 — 486 0.0318%
1988 — 499 0.032%
1989 — 586 0.0363%
1990 — 635 0.0383%
1991 — 674 0.0414%
1992 — 675 0.0423%
1993 — 861 0.0552%
1994 — 868 0.0566%
1995 — 841 0.0558%
1996 — 861 0.0575%
1997 — 814 0.055%
1998 — 966 0.0645%
1999 — 1,035 0.0691%
2000 — 1,449 0.0949%
2001 — 1,619 0.1075%
2002 — 1,914 0.1277%
2003 — 1,960 0.1288%
2004 — 2,516 0.1651%
2005 — 2,681 0.1753%
2006 — 2,979 0.1903%
2007 — 3,233 0.2049%
2008 — 4,505 0.2915%
2009 — 4,910 0.3285%
2010 — 6,557 0.455%
2011 — 7,205 0.5057%
2012 — 8,059 0.5655%
2013 — 7,935 0.5573%
2014 — 7,483 0.5136%
2015 — 7,134 0.4903%
2016 — 7,086 0.4915%
2017 — 6,553 0.4695%
2018 — 6,027 0.4387%
2019 — 5,483 0.405%
2020 — 5,107 0.4012%
2021 — 4,868 0.3982%
2022 — 4,585 0.3475%
2023 — 4,106 0.3173%

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Kentucky (KY)

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Maine (ME)

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Eli

If you like Eli, you’ll love these other names like Eli.

What names are variants of Eli?

Mix it up with these names that are a variation of the name Eli.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Eleazar

God is my help

Hebrew

Elias

My God is Yahweh

Hebrew

Elie

God is my help; high; the Lord is my God

Hebrew

Elijah

My God is Yahweh

Hebrew

Elisha

God is my salvation

Hebrew

Elliot

My God is Yahweh

English

Elliott

My God is Yahweh

English

Ely

High

Hebrew

What names sound like Eli?

If you like how Eli sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Eli.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Ali

Sublime

Arabic

Elia

The Lord is my God

Hebrew

Eliu

My God is He

Hebrew

Levi

Joined together

Hebrew

What names are similar to Eli?

Find a name that’s like Eli, but just a little bit different.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Daniel

God is My Judge

Hebrew

David

Beloved

Hebrew

Ezra

Help

Hebrew

Gabriel

God is my strength

Hebrew

Isaac

He will laugh

Hebrew

Jacob

Supplanter

Hebrew

Joshua

God is salvation

Hebrew

Leo

Lion

Latin

Matthew

Gift of God

Hebrew

Samuel

Name of God

Hebrew

Lists With Eli

Find inspiration in these baby boy name lists featuring the name Eli.

Siblings of Eli

Mamas with kids named Eli also have kids with these names.

Name Meaning Origin Popularity Other Gender
Jack

God is gracious

English

Lilian

Lily

Latin

Isabella

Devoted to God

Italian

Kai

Sea

Polynesian

Ian

God is gracious

Scottish

Italia

Italy

Italian

Samuel

Name of God

Hebrew

31 Comments

  1. I really loved the name Elijah but my husband wasn’t quite going for it. So we settled on just Eli.

    Reply

  2. Eli is a Hebrew name that means “high”, “elevated”, or “My god”. We chose his name to celebrate the gift that he is from God and what a wonderful thing it is to partake in God’s creation.

    Reply

  3. Eli is a Hebrew name that means “high”, “elevated”, or “My god”. We chose his name to celebrate the gift that he is from God and what a wonderful thing it is to partake in God’s creation.

    Reply

  4. My husband and I just really liked the name and loved the combo with his middle name, Fox.

    Reply

  5. Eli is short for Elias which means the Lord is my God

    Reply

  6. We chose the name Eli because our daughters name is Ellie and we just felt they went well together.

    Reply

  7. My guy and I met working at a restaurant/bar 6 years ago, and we both still worked at the same place when I was pregnant. One night while we were working, we passed around little papers and a basket and asked our regulars and coworkers to put name suggestions in, and Eli was our favorite option. We continued looking for names, but never found one we liked more than Eli. We chose Taylor for his middle name, partly because it was a family name, and partly because it made his initials E.T 😉 His dad and I have always loved aliens and all things about the stars and space so it was very fitting for us.

    I love that his name is short and sweet. It isn’t short for anything- just Eli. It also means ascension, which I think is really cool. And it rhymes with a lot of things, so making up little songs to sing him is pretty easy. Lol!

    Reply

  8. Eli is a family name

    Reply

  9. Loved it!

    Reply

  10. My husband’s name is El’Jay and we already had one son named Bryson. Bryson was basically named after me so we knew we wanted new baby to be named after daddy. We played around with a few names and got to Eli.

    Reply

  11. I like the name Eli. It’s short, simple and easy to pronounce.

    Reply

  12. Eli means elevated or high and we wanted a meaningful name, but something that didn’t sound too biblical. We also had a lot of 3 letter names and this was the winner!

    Reply

  13. Eli means ascension and is a prophetic name. It’s also an ideal mix of my husband’s name and mine, Eddy and Lynn.

    Reply

  14. I love this name and it my boyfriend name ?

    Reply

  15. We named our son Elisha , as my husband wanted him to have a biblical name. He is now 15 and chooses to be called Eli, we love the shortened version, it is a strong name that we are frequently complimented on.

    Reply

  16. I just love the name

    Reply

  17. It’s a Bible name

    Reply

  18. I love biblical names

    Reply

  19. Biblical

    Reply

  20. We chose the name Eli because we liked that it sounded strong. My husband wanted Elijah but we would have called him Eli so we decided we would stick with just Eli.

    Reply

  21. I loved it and picked it

    Reply

  22. ????? 3/5, takes too long for people to remember it. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND

    Reply

  23. I loved the name since before he was born. It’s a very common name but nothing I dislike. He is an awesome kid!

    Reply

  24. I like his name and choose his name because i wanted a three letter name

    Reply

  25. He’s my Eli Bear. Just a name my husband i came across and both agreed on.

    Reply

  26. My husband liked Elijah but I didn’t. It also went well with Roman which is his middle name! Mainly I wanted a biblical name with no family ties to it.

    Reply

  27. My husband thinks I picked it from the Bible but I picked it from the show vampire diaries

    Reply

  28. Before my son was conceived we had already chosen the name Eli as his first name. Once we learned I was pregnant we search for additional options and girl names and came up short. Eli is short, easy to spell and pronounce and fits with our last name. My husband and I are NY Giants Football fans, and the long time quarterback is Eli Manning. Although this may have been where we first heard the name, we didn’t name our son after our favorite sports team like most think.

    Reply

  29. Eli is such a sweet and simple name for a boy. We paired this name with River, for Eli River. I feel that it’s classic enough to go with John and jack, and with the middle name River, has the flowy sound to go with our daughter’s name, Khaleesi.

    Reply

  30. My husband just was so in love with this name and was lukewarm on anything else. It’s a classic name that is timeless, easy to spell and pronounce, and can grow into a great adult name. We get compliments on it all the time, with people often saying it was on their “list.” We meet a couple other Eli’s here and there but it’s not too popular.

    Reply

  31. We came across Eli and both me and my husband instantly loved it. I love it, it’s short and easy and fits our son perfectly. When he was first born, I sometimes wished I would of went with a name like Elijah or Elias and had Eli as a nickname but now that he is here and been Eli for a while, seems just perfect!

    Reply

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