Eleanor Name Meaning, Origin, Popularity, Girl Names Like Eleanor

Eleanor Name Origin: English
Pronunciation: el-ah-nor
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Eleanor Name Meaning

An English variant of the Old French Alienor, Eleanor is of unknown meaning but rich history, with wearers presiding as European queens and America’s First Lady alike. She’s also graced the stage with actors and dancers alike.

Eleanor has always appeared on the U.S. Top 1000 names for girls since its creation in 1900, though her popularity has risen and fallen throughout the years. She’s been making a triumphant return recently, beloved for her vintage charm and fitting in the granny chic movement seen in similar names like Edith, Agnes, and Hazel.

A literary darling, Eleanor and her spelling variants have appeared in a number of books including The Lord of the Rings, Sense and Sensibility, and Contact. She’s also made appearances in music, most notably in Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles.

Eleanor wears well regardless of age, serious and stately yet fashionably feminine. She’s a strong name for a girl to grow with, standing apart from the Paisleys and Zoeys on the playground with her maturity. She’s also spunky, the perfect name for a girl ready for adventure.

Eleanor has alternate spellings including Eleanore and Elinor as well as the melodic variant Eleanora. She’s also ripe with nickname choices like Elle, Ellie, Nora, and Ella.

Eleanor Name Popularity

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

Year	Rank	# Births	% Births
1910	55	1,789	0.5081%
1911	49	2,026	0.5441%
1912	39	3,114	0.6175%
1913	34	3,920	0.6914%
1914	28	5,370	0.7706%
1915	28	7,033	0.7741%
1916	27	7,405	0.7666%
1917	26	7,665	0.7662%
1918	26	8,172	0.7614%
1919	30	7,605	0.7263%
1920	25	8,497	0.7642%
1921	29	8,053	0.7033%
1922	28	7,845	0.7042%
1923	28	7,769	0.6936%
1924	29	8,190	0.7053%
1925	31	7,721	0.6831%
1926	32	7,298	0.6635%
1927	33	6,950	0.6279%
1928	36	6,530	0.6103%
1929	38	5,862	0.5659%
1930	39	5,814	0.5566%
1931	40	5,254	0.5323%
1932	45	4,832	0.4891%
1933	37	5,097	0.5471%
1934	44	4,710	0.4872%
1935	48	4,160	0.4281%
1936	47	4,336	0.4501%
1937	53	4,267	0.433%
1938	60	4,044	0.395%
1939	63	3,803	0.3739%
1940	68	3,578	0.3366%
1941	78	3,237	0.2876%
1942	87	3,154	0.2498%
1943	107	2,714	0.2079%
1944	122	2,180	0.1759%
1945	130	1,858	0.1523%
1946	139	1,916	0.1298%
1947	161	1,824	0.1093%
1948	168	1,641	0.1028%
1949	180	1,502	0.0934%
1950	197	1,356	0.0842%
1951	209	1,271	0.075%
1952	220	1,220	0.0699%
1953	227	1,230	0.0695%
1954	241	1,091	0.0597%
1955	256	1,018	0.0553%
1956	261	1,021	0.0541%
1957	291	932	0.0484%
1958	306	829	0.0439%
1959	317	826	0.0435%
1960	328	786	0.0415%
1961	346	717	0.038%
1962	343	714	0.0389%
1963	374	629	0.035%
1964	375	613	0.0348%
1965	370	568	0.0347%
1966	426	431	0.0276%
1967	447	403	0.0266%
1968	474	367	0.0244%
1969	521	313	0.0203%
1970	529	314	0.0197%
1971	553	278	0.0185%
1972	542	261	0.0192%
1973	592	216	0.0167%
1974	683	163	0.0125%
1975	672	171	0.0133%
1976	617	204	0.0158%
1977	747	153	0.0114%
1978	612	226	0.0168%
1979	657	215	0.0152%
1980	699	195	0.0133%
1981	660	220	0.015%
1982	679	208	0.0139%
1983	643	216	0.0146%
1984	676	200	0.0134%
1985	679	213	0.014%
1986	698	208	0.0138%
1987	643	243	0.0159%
1988	624	272	0.0175%
1989	592	320	0.0198%
1990	599	336	0.0203%
1991	586	344	0.0211%
1992	577	360	0.0226%
1993	540	402	0.0258%
1994	572	355	0.0231%
1995	536	403	0.0267%
1996	487	451	0.0301%
1997	470	495	0.0335%
1998	384	690	0.0461%
1999	407	652	0.0435%
2000	373	746	0.0488%
2001	359	801	0.0532%
2002	317	939	0.0627%
2003	312	969	0.0637%
2004	300	1,040	0.0682%
2005	263	1,215	0.0795%
2006	272	1,191	0.0761%
2007	267	1,254	0.0795%
2008	253	1,330	0.0861%
2009	217	1,459	0.0976%
2010	166	1,832	0.1271%
2011	149	2,077	0.1458%
2012	134	2,370	0.1663%
2013	106	2,997	0.2105%
2014	78	3,732	0.2561%
2015	60	4,430	0.3045%
2016	41	5,128	0.3557%
2017	35	5,519	0.3954%
2018	32	5,694	0.4144%
2019	27	6,164	0.4553%
2020	22	6,151	0.4832%
2021	15	6,689	0.5472%
2022	16	6,881	0.5216%

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Data via SSA.gov.

Names Like Eleanor

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

What names are diminutives of Eleanor?

A diminutive is a name that’s like Eleanor sounds, you might also like these names that sound like Eleanor, but shorter.

Name	Meaning	Origin
El	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Ella	Other goddess	Hebrew
Elle	She	French
Elli	Noble, exalted; sun ray, shining light; other, foreign	Greek
Ellie	Shortened form of El- names	English
Nell	Horn; sun ray, shining light	Latin
Nelle	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Nelley	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Nelli	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Nellie	Horn; sun ray, shining light	Latin
Nelly	A diminutive form of Helen.	Greek
Nonnie	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Nora	Honorable one	Latin
Norah	Honorable one	Latin

Nore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek

What names are variants of Eleanor?

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

Name	Meaning	Origin
Aleanor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Alenor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Aleonore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Allinor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Eileanoir	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elanor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Eleanora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Eleanore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elenor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elenora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elenore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Eleonor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Eleonora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Eleonore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek

Elianora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elianore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elienora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elienore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elinor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elinore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elleanor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elleanora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Ellenor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Ellenora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Ellenore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elleonor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elliner	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Ellinor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Ellinore	Sun ray, shining light	Greek

Elnora	Compassion	Greek
Enora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Heleanor	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Helenora	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Leanora	Sun ray, shining light; compassion; light	Greek
Lenora	Sun ray, shining light; compassion; light	Greek
Lenore	Light	Greek
Leonor	Sun ray, shining light; compassion; light	Greek
Leonora	Compassion; light	Greek
Leonore	Sun ray, shining light; compassion; light	Greek
Norina	Sun ray, shining light	Greek

What names sound like Eleanor?

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

Name	Meaning	Origin
Elaine	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elena	Shining light	Greek
Ellen	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Elodie	Marsh flower	Greek

Hannelore	He (God) has favored me	Hebrew

What names are similar to Eleanor?

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

Name	Meaning	Origin
Edith	Strife for wealth	English
Evelyn	Desired one	English
Gwendolyn	Blessed ring	Welsh
Harriet	Home ruler	German
Helen	Sun ray, shining light	Greek
Judith	From Judea; Jewish	Hebrew
Louise	Famous warrior	German
Lucille	Of the light	French
Marie	A French form of Mary.	French
Sadie	Princess	Hebrew

Lists With Eleanor

Find inspiration in these baby girl name lists featuring the name Eleanor.

Siblings of Eleanor

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

Name	Meaning	Origin
Henry	Home ruler	English
Elias	My God is Yahweh	Hebrew
John	God is gracious	Hebrew
Beatrix	Voyager (through life); blessed	Latin

Alfie	Elf or magical counsel; ready for battle	German
Elizabeth	God is my oath	Hebrew
Grace	Gracious one	English
Zella	Happy	Yiddish
Josephine	God will increase	Hebrew
Amelia	Work	German
Imogene	Maiden	Irish
Saul	Prayed for	Hebrew
Victoria	Victory	Latin
Seth	Appointed	Hebrew

Share Your Thoughts

47 Comments

Carly Nov 2 at 9:06 am

We loved older, classic names! So we decided on Eleanor!

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Mae Jul 29 at 9:48 am

We chose Eleanor because it means “God is my light” in Hebrew and that is our prayer for our precious girl – that she would know Jesus as her light her whole life long!

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Emily Jun 11 at 3:55 am

We loved how Eleanor was a timeless name and we consistently get compliments on how beautiful it is. Growing up I also liked a bunch of Eleanor Roosevelt quotes, especially “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”.

Right now our baby is just Eleanor but we have tossed around Ella, Norrie, or Elle for a nickname.

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Eleanor Nov 4 at 12:46 pm

My name is Eleanor so lol that’s why I’m here

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- Eleanor Aug 27 at 2:52 pm
  
  Same, AND MY MOTHER’S ?
  
  Reply
Michaly Oct 24 at 1:32 pm

..

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Priscilla Oct 21 at 9:59 am

I just love that name n its meaning

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Lindsay Oct 5 at 8:27 am

We chose the name Eleanor after my great grandmother. She was a woman I so looked up to. My husband and I couldn’t decide on a name, but we both loved Eleanor because it was so classic and timeless. We call our daughter “Laney” as a nickname 🙂

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Ariana Sep 23 at 11:56 am

It was a name my husband liked. It means Shining pearl

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Mikayla Nov 17 at 12:42 pm

I think the name is strong and is mostly associated with someone who has strong character.I like that it is not a name that is commonly used at the moment.

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Princella Jun 5 at 6:12 am

The name Eleanor means the Almighty(God) is my Light/shinning light… well, looking at my back ground and also how the journey of pregnancy was, i know deep down in my heart, thay its God’s light that lead me…. she is God’s light in our lives.

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Karen Denningston May 27 at 5:59 am

My dearest grandaughter is called Eleanor. I hate my daughter for calling her that…

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- wow. May 6 at 4:00 pm
  
  You’re horrible.
  
  Reply
Jen May 11 at 7:19 am

Went well woth her sisters E name

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Adelaide Apr 3 at 1:02 am

We chose our daughter’s name because of St. Helen of the True Cross. We want her to have a strong role model of a woman who never stops seeking the Lord. We call her Nora, and it’s the perfect name for her!

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Tianneke Feb 21 at 8:03 am

We love the timeless name of Eleanor. There are so many nickname options as well.

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Abby Dec 28 at 7:48 pm

i love it’s meaning “lighthearted, shining light”. it’s so pretty.

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Jessica Oct 2 at 12:56 pm

My husband and I had been TTC for almost 8 years. We had a small list of boy and girl names we liked, but when we found out I was pregnant, we looked at other baby names online. We started with A names and went through the alphabet. We loved Alivia when we came upon it, but when we were looking for a middle name, we came upon Eleanor and decided that was going to be her first name. We liked that it was a classic name and not very common these days.

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Miriam Sep 14 at 4:01 pm

So classy. We will be calling her “Ellie” for short.

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Lydia Sep 9 at 12:19 pm

I’ve always enjoyed older names that ring with elegance. We chose Eleanor due to the meaning paired with her middle name, Rubie.

Eleanor meaning: bright shining one or God is my light.
Rubie: jewel

We know that she is a bright shining gem or treasure in God’s eyes as well as ours.

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Allie Jul 29 at 7:23 am

I loved the nicknames Ellie and Nora and couldn’t decide which to choose to we chose Eleanor so we could call her either ?

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- --no-- Nov 21 at 9:15 am
  
  My full name is Eleanor, but when I moved to a different country as a child, I chose a nickname for my new classmates to call me. I chose Ellie, but there was another girl in my class with the exact same name. Ellie is very popular and while it can be very endearing, I think – given another opportunity – I would have chosen Nora. You never want your child to be ‘Jack 2’ or ‘Mary B’ because it may take away some individuality. But maybe Ellie fits your daughter better, it’s completely up to you.
  
  Reply
Kate Jun 13 at 12:00 am

I love the nickname Ellie and the old school name for Eleanor. Also Eleanor Roosevelt was a great historical woman figure and I wanted her to have a strong name

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Victoria Jun 10 at 4:30 am

Classic, rare, a number of nicknames

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Robin Apr 2 at 3:24 pm

Eleanor is a traditional name which we loved! Once I said the name out loud, that was it!

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Lydia Feb 1 at 12:37 pm

I’ve always loved the name Ella, so we chose the classic Eleanor.

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Sammie Jan 16 at 3:18 pm

We loved the name because it is a classic that is not overused. We thought she could be nicknamed Ella, Elle, Ellie, Nora, whatever she chooses. That way she can be classy but also sassy. Eleanor and Ella is what we call her!

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Paulina Campbell Jan 9 at 3:25 pm

We chose the name Eleanor because it’s a beautiful, classic, and strong name. We love old proper names. Her name is Eleanor Maria. Maria is my moms name.

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Eleanor Rose Jan 5 at 9:57 pm

My husband and I were talking about baby names since we got married. We couldn’t agree on anything until one night we were watching NCIS and one of the main caracteres name is Eleanor. When we heard that, we both looked at each other and said that’s a perfect name for our first daughter.

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Natasha Dec 19 at 12:57 pm

We’ve had her name picked since middle second trimester. When I thought about her as she was in the womb I just kept coming back to the name Eleanor because it just felt like that’s who she was when we talked to/about her. We call her Ellie for short. That’s the only way I can describe it; it just felt like her. ? It also means “God is my light” in Hebrew which we found out later in my pregnancy, and that was an added plus that kind of gave us total peace about it. We pray that she does allow God to be her shining, guiding light in her life and that she would be a reflection of Him always.

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Jennifer Sep 23 at 3:23 pm

We chose Eleanor because it was on both my and my husband’s side of the family and we liked that it is a traditional name but one with cute nickname options. We’re calling her Ellie.

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Rebecca Jul 23 at 1:09 pm

Eleanor Rose is our baby girl name. I always loved the name Eleanor and Rose is a family name on both sides of the family and was the first name we came up with together and aagreed upon.

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Sarah Anderson Jul 15 at 9:39 am

We chose Eleanor because we like classic names. We will primarily call her “Ellie“. Her middle name is “Jean” which is my mom’s name. She will be called “Ellie Jean” quite a bit.

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Hallie Apr 19 at 1:10 am

Nola, another nickname for Eleanor, has a feeling of bright spring scenery. For now, Nola is also used as a nickname for Annora, Enola, Finola, Honora, Leonor, Leonora and Magnolia, which makes it much more popular than it really is.

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Candace Halloway Mar 27 at 11:28 am

My husband and I both love the ’67 Shelby mustang gt500 .. we went though many names and wanted something that didn’t clash with our other daughters names and didn’t want to repeat a letter. We so far had Natalie , Audrianna, Charlotte & Melody. We both kept seeing Eleanor in random places . Getting messages it seemed that it should be her name. It stuck with us . We didn’t find anything that could top it for us. We chose for sure after we saw her that she was going to be Eleanor Azalea. I had been searching for a flower or herb name not overdone for months . Azalea sounded just right and springy for our spring baby girl.

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Heather Mar 16 at 10:48 am

My grandmother’s name was Eleanor

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Eleanor Jan 10 at 12:40 pm

My baby girls name is Eleanor Genevieve. I actually wanted to name her Genevieve Lynn after my grandmother and myself. However, my husband kept telling me he couldn’t spell Genevieve! haha He also loved the name Eleanor and since we love older names we landed on Eleanor Genevieve. He didn’t get the name from Gone in 60 seconds but he likes to tell people she’s named after a mustang. Fun fact there is an Eleanor Genevieve that survived the Titanic!

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Katherine Frazier Nov 3 at 11:14 am

I love the traditional feel of the name. Also all the options for nicknames. We are going to call our little one Ellie for short.

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Courtney Aug 17 at 10:14 am

I’ve always loved the name Eleanor! We did get a lot of push back when we told people her name. They thought it was too old fashioned. My spouse and I didn’t care! We wanted our daughter to have a strong name! Now that shes 6 months old everyone loves her name when we introduce her!

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Mama Jun 13 at 2:40 pm

We loved Ellie as a nickname, but wanted to give our daughter a longer more formal name.
Our choices were between Eleanor, Eliana, and Elora. I preferred Eliana. My husband preferred Elora. We both liked Eleanor and so went with that as the more classic option.

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Amanda Mazdzer Jun 9 at 1:43 am

I loved the meaning of this name as well as the potential nickname of Ellie down the road if we wanted.

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- Amanda Mazdzer Jun 9 at 1:55 am
  
  To clarify, when we were looking at the name Eleanor the baby name book said the meaning was “shining light”.
  
  Reply
Heidi May 1 at 5:00 pm

Our daughter, 3 1/2, is an Eleanor. We loved the name because of the versatility: while she’s little, Ellie suits her beautifully and then as an adult, Eleanor is a strong name. She is a gorgeous little soul, full of life and loves everyone.

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Danielle Apr 23 at 9:36 am

Family Name

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Chelly Ullman Apr 13 at 1:32 pm

Eleanor (Ellie) is our third daughter and is almost four. She is the most loveable child I’ve ever known. She frequently takes time to say how much she loves us. (As big as the whole world) she is always ready for snuggles. Her middle name is Jo.

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Alyssa Apr 13 at 12:14 pm

I’ve loved the name for years. I’m drawn to classic/older names, especially ones that are just a tad off the mainstream or that have a particular ring to them.

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Robin Apr 12 at 7:04 am

We wanted something more traditional or historic. Also, as a teacher, it was important to me that others would know how to spell it easily.

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Eleanor