Recorded 1882–2025 · United States
Elwin was most popular in 1926, when 150 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,048 that year. In 2025 it ranked #10,279, with 20 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 5,181 people named Elwin.
Elwin first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1882, which makes it about 143 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 139 of the 144 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 5,181 American births named Elwin 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 1,576 are estimated to be alive today.
20 American babies were named Elwin in 2025, ranking #10,279 that year.
Elwin is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 15 births a year across 2021–2025 against 12 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
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.
Across the whole record Elwin is a boy’s name — 0.1% of the 5,181 Americans given it were girls and 99.9% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% 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.
Roughly 1,576 Americans named Elwin are alive today — 30% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 64 years old, and half are between 34 and 77. That is a wide band, the mark of a name in steady use across generations rather than a passing fashion.
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.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Elwin on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org