Ellington
Recorded 1921–2025 · United States
Ellington was most popular in 2016, when 124 American babies were given the name — ranking #3,088 that year. In 2025 it ranked #3,970, with 84 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 1,704 people named Ellington.
Ellington over time
How old is the name Ellington?
Ellington first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1921, which makes it about 104 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 46 of the 105 years since.
How many people are named Ellington?
The Social Security Administration has recorded 1,704 American births named Ellington between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 1,666 are estimated to be alive today.
How many babies were named Ellington in 2025?
84 American babies were named Ellington in 2025, ranking #3,970 that year.
Is Ellington getting more or less popular?
Ellington is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 90 births a year, against 69 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +31% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Is Ellington a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Across the whole record Ellington is a unisex name — 58.9% of the 1,704 Americans given it were girls and 41.1% were boys. It changed hands: since 2008 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 66% girls and 34% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
How old is someone named Ellington?
Roughly 1,666 Americans named Ellington are alive today — 98% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 9 years old, and half are between 5 and 14. That is a narrow band because Ellington is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Where Ellington is most concentrated
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
Explore further
See Ellington on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org