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 358 20 0.0057%
1911 354 27 0.0073%
1912 304 108 0.0214%
1913 337 109 0.0192%
1914 323 164 0.0235%
1915 337 207 0.0228%
1916 320 230 0.0238%
1917 375 185 0.0185%
1918 337 244 0.0227%
1919 380 194 0.0185%
1920 384 205 0.0184%
1921 359 236 0.0206%
1922 369 225 0.0202%
1923 380 203 0.0181%
1924 385 210 0.0181%
1925 347 244 0.0216%
1926 352 238 0.0216%
1927 410 180 0.0163%
1928 421 162 0.0151%
1929 443 138 0.0133%
1930 444 140 0.0134%
1931 458 116 0.0118%
1932 424 138 0.014%
1933 467 104 0.0112%
1934 443 122 0.0126%
1935 432 128 0.0132%
1936 476 102 0.0106%
1937 495 94 0.0095%
1938 580 67 0.0065%
1939 611 54 0.0053%
1940 552 76 0.0072%
1941 510 94 0.0084%
1942 555 82 0.0065%
1943 659 56 0.0043%
1944 601 65 0.0052%
1945 549 78 0.0064%
1946 720 45 0.003%
1947 597 90 0.0054%
1948 602 81 0.0051%
1949 669 63 0.0039%
1950 615 80 0.005%
1951 576 100 0.0059%
1952 645 73 0.0042%
1953 647 79 0.0045%
1954 655 81 0.0044%
1955 732 58 0.0032%
1956 613 110 0.0058%
1957 692 74 0.0038%
1958 710 66 0.0035%
1959 690 79 0.0042%
1960 677 85 0.0045%
1961 647 100 0.0053%
1962 679 83 0.0045%
1963 668 92 0.0051%
1964 692 79 0.0045%
1965 701 66 0.004%
1966 690 73 0.0047%
1967 698 71 0.0047%
1968 630 100 0.0067%
1969 705 77 0.005%
1970 552 171 0.0107%
1971 492 225 0.015%
1972 490 212 0.0156%
1973 441 273 0.0211%
1974 399 337 0.0259%
1975 444 277 0.0216%
1976 409 319 0.0248%
1977 366 417 0.0309%
1978 372 386 0.0287%
1979 360 448 0.0318%
1980 342 500 0.0342%
1981 333 515 0.035%
1982 359 462 0.0309%
1983 350 479 0.0325%
1984 359 466 0.0313%
1985 345 506 0.0333%
1986 339 535 0.0354%
1987 367 486 0.0318%
1988 371 499 0.032%
1989 360 586 0.0363%
1990 357 635 0.0383%
1991 342 674 0.0414%
1992 338 675 0.0423%
1993 305 861 0.0552%
1994 300 868 0.0566%
1995 305 841 0.0558%
1996 297 861 0.0575%
1997 313 814 0.055%
1998 288 966 0.0645%
1999 277 1,035 0.0691%
2000 232 1,449 0.0949%
2001 213 1,619 0.1075%
2002 196 1,914 0.1277%
2003 191 1,960 0.1288%
2004 159 2,516 0.1651%
2005 152 2,681 0.1753%
2006 136 2,979 0.1903%
2007 129 3,233 0.2049%
2008 99 4,505 0.2915%
2009 90 4,910 0.3285%
2010 65 6,557 0.455%
2011 58 7,205 0.5057%
2012 44 8,059 0.5655%
2013 43 7,935 0.5573%
2014 49 7,483 0.5136%
2015 53 7,134 0.4903%
2016 52 7,086 0.4915%
2017 54 6,553 0.4695%
2018 58 6,027 0.4387%
2019 62 5,483 0.405%
2020 59 5,107 0.4012%
2021 64 4,868 0.3982%
2022 69 4,585 0.3475%

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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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