Elly

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Ellie in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 9 more, Elli in FI Finland, SE Sweden, GR Greece, Eli in BG Bulgaria, HR Croatia and Элли in RU Russia.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 21 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Elly is also recorded as 4 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Indonesian given name32K records spelled Elly4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written 'Elly, Élly

• French given name7.6K records spelled Elly6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Netherlands, United States, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Élly, Ëlly, Êllÿ, Èllÿ

• Arabic given name1.2K records spelled Elly13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Netherlands, United States, Egypt, Saudi Arabia

  Also written Ëllÿ, Éllý, Êllÿ, Ëlly, Èlly

• a separate given name1.2K records spelled Elly4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Tanzania, Norway, Netherlands

  Also written Ellỳ, Êlly, Ḛ̃l̰̃l̰̃ỹ̰

42 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Elly is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Variant of Ailbhe (see Alby).

  as a name·Irish first names

• Variant of Ai/be (see Alby).

  as a name·Irish first names

• In German, a diminutive of the female given names Elisabeth or Eleanor

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, a female given name, short for Elisabeth or Eleanor

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Hungarian, The name of the Latin-script letter Ly/ly.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 89 years between 1921–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Elly Neyb. 1882DEGerman pianist (1882–1968)
• Ellie Lambetib. 1926GRnot in their usual nameGreek actress (1926–1983)
• Renate Künastb. 1955DEnot in their usual nameGerman politician
• Ellie Cornellb. 1963USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Ellie Kemperb. 1980USnot in their usual nameAmerican actress
• Ellie Kendrickb. 1990GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress
• Ellie Bamberb. 1997GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress and model
• Blancheb. 1999BEnot in their usual nameBelgian singer
• Ellie Darcey-Aldenb. 1999GBnot in their usual nameBritish actress
• Ellie Carpenterb. 2000AUnot in their usual nameAustralian soccer player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 754 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Elly?

We estimate roughly 235 thousand people bear Elly (counting its spellings and scripts) across 14 countries in our records.

In which country does Elly have the most bearers?

We estimate about 121 thousand people bear Elly in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled ellie.

Where is Elly most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Elly is densest in Finland — about 1 in 515 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Elly compared with other names?

In Ireland, Elly is the 144th most common given name of 13,994 given names recorded there.

Is Elly a male or female name?

Elly is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.

What does the name Elly mean?

Recorded meaning: a female given name, short for Elisabeth