How popular is the baby name Elvis in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Elvis.

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Popularity of the baby name Elvis


Posts that mention the name Elvis

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2023

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Last year, the Republic of Ireland — which covers five-sixths of the island of Ireland — welcomed roughly 55,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Grace and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl Names

  1. Grace, 339 baby girls
  2. Fiadh (pronounced FEE-a), 300
  3. Emily, 297
  4. Sophie, 283
  5. Lily, 270
  6. Ellie, 252
  7. Mia, 242
  8. Amelia, 241 (tie)
  9. Éabha (pronounced EY-va), 241 (tie)
  10. Ella, 231
  11. Isla, 227
  12. Hannah, 226
  13. Sophia, 218
  14. Lucy, 214
  15. Ava, 207
  16. Sadie, 200
  17. Olivia, 199
  18. Freya, 188
  19. Emma, 183
  20. Chloe, 181
  21. Robyn, 180
  22. Molly, 176
  23. Anna, 166 (tie)
  24. Croía (pronounced KREE-a), 166 (tie)
  25. Evie, 165
  26. Caoimhe (pronounced KEE-va or KWEE-va), 158
  27. Saoirse (pronounced SEER-sha or SAYR-sha), 157 (tie)
  28. Cara, 157 (tie)
  29. Sofia, 156
  30. Millie, 150
  31. Aoife (pronounced EE-fa), 148
  32. Isabelle, 132
  33. Bonnie, 130
  34. Maya, 128 (tie)
  35. Ada, 128 (tie)
  36. Róisín (pronounced ROH-sheen), 127
  37. Ruby, 126
  38. Kate, 123 (tie)
  39. Alice, 123 (tie)
  40. Holly, 120 (3-way tie)
  41. Erin, 120 (3-way tie)
  42. Sadhbh (pronounced siev; rhymes with “5”), 120 (3-way tie)
  43. Leah, 119
  44. Isabella, 118 (3-way tie)
  45. Ailbhe (pronounced AL-va), 118 (3-way tie)
  46. Méabh (pronounced mayv), 118 (3-way tie)
  47. Zoe, 115
  48. Annie, 112
  49. Ivy, 111
  50. Willow, 110

Boy Names

  1. Jack, 561 baby boys
  2. Noah, 473
  3. James, 369
  4. Rían (pronounced REE-an), 339
  5. Oisín (pronounced UH-sheen or OH-sheen), 330
  6. Fionn (pronounced fyun or fyoon), 306
  7. Tadhg (pronounced tieg, like the first part of “tiger”), 301
  8. Liam, 289
  9. Cillian (pronounced KIL-ee-an), 275
  10. Daniel, 256
  11. Finn, 251
  12. Conor, 244 (tie)
  13. Charlie, 244 (tie)
  14. Seán (pronounced shawn), 240
  15. Michael, 239
  16. Leo, 237
  17. Theo, 233
  18. Thomas, 227
  19. Patrick, 221
  20. Luke, 215
  21. Tommy, 214
  22. Oliver, 211
  23. Adam, 201
  24. Harry, 198
  25. Luca, 197
  26. Darragh, 195
  27. Alex, 175
  28. Bobby, 157
  29. Cian (pronounced KEE-an or keen), 156
  30. Oscar, 154
  31. John, 152 (tie)
  32. Max, 152 (tie)
  33. Ryan, 151
  34. Páidí (pronounced PAW-dee), 150
  35. Jamie, 149
  36. Ben, 147
  37. Kai, 141 (tie)
  38. Ollie, 141 (tie)
  39. Tom, 135
  40. Matthew, 134
  41. Dylan, 132
  42. Callum, 131
  43. Sonny, 130
  44. Sam, 129
  45. Ethan, 127 (tie)
  46. Alfie, 127 (tie)
  47. David, 122
  48. Alexander, 118
  49. Mason, 116
  50. Caelan, 114

New to the girls’ top 100 were Lucia, Cadhla (pronounced KIE-la) and Síofra (pronounced SHEE-fra).

New to the boys’ top 100 were Caelan, Jude, Paddy, Éanna (pronounced EY-na) and Dáithí (pronounced DAH-hee).

The fastest-rising names in the top 100 in terms of numbers of babies were:

  • Éala (increased by 41 baby girls), Ailbhe (+40), Méabh (+36), Zara (+33), Croía (+26)
  • Caelan (increased by 58 baby boys), Páidí (+41), Arlo (+35), Tommy (+30), Mark (+28)

And the fastest-rising names in terms of rank were:

  • Síofra (rose 57 spots on the girls’ list), Lucia (+43), Éala (+38), Lottie (+36), Zara (+31)
  • Caelan (rose 58 spots on the boys’ list), Mark (+46), Ruairí (+41), Eoin (+37), Arlo (+31)
Map of the four provinces of Ireland
Ireland’s four provinces

Home to more than five million people, the Republic of Ireland is divided into four provinces. (One of these provinces, Ulster, lies largely within Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK.) The top baby names within each of the four provinces last year were…

Top Girl NameTop Boy Name
Leinster
(56% of the population)
GraceJack
Munster
(27% of pop.)
GraceJack
Connacht
(11% of pop.)
FiadhJack
Ulster [ROI portion]
(6% of pop.)
LilyJack

And what about the baby names at the other end of the spectrum?

Here’s a selection of the names that were given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Adara, Brídín, Cushla, Dottie, Eilidh, Féile, Gillian, Hezlin, Iona, Jolene, Kalina, Lorna, Maliha, Natasha, Ocean, Philomena, Ríonach, Saffie, Tuiren, Vedika, Yasmine, ZadieAlby, Bram, Conal, Douglas, Elvis, Finnian, Gerald, Igor, Jonnie, Keenan, Lughaidh, Maitiú, Nathanael, Orin, Patryk, Rylan, Séadhna, Téidí, Ultán, Viktor, Wren, Yohan, Zachariah

Finally, here are Ireland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2023), Births, Deaths and Marriages – CSO, Provinces of Ireland – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of Ireland location map by Ssolbergj under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Baby born to Elvis’ granddaughter, named after Elvis’ birthplace

Elvis Presley's childhood home in Tupelo, Mississippi
Elvis Presley’s childhood home

Actress Riley Keogh — daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and granddaughter of Elvis Presley — welcomed a baby girl via surrogate in August of 2022. A year later, in a Vanity Fair cover story, she revealed that her daughter’s name was Tupelo Storm.

Tupelo’s first name is a reference to the northern Mississippi city of Tupelo (pronounced TOO-puh-loh), which is where Elvis was born in 1935. (The Presley family didn’t move to Memphis, Tennessee, until Elvis was a young teenager.)

The city’s name, which was inspired by the abundance of tupelo gum trees in the area, derives from the Creek words ito, meaning “tree,” and opilwa, meaning “swamp.”

Keogh said:

It’s funny because we picked her name before the Elvis movie. I was like, ‘This is great because it’s not really a well-known word or name in relation to my family — it’s not like Memphis or something.’ Then when the Elvis movie came out, it was like, Tupelo this and Tupelo that. I was like, ‘Oh no.’ But it’s fine.

(The biopic Elvis was released in June of 2022.)

The baby’s middle name commemorates Riley Keogh’s late brother, Benjamin Storm Keough.

So far, the name Tupelo has never appeared in the SSA data — but do you think it could in the future? What are your thoughts on Tupelo as a baby name?

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Tupelo EAP birthplace IMG 2649 by Bjoertvedt under CC BY-SA 4.0.

What gave the baby name Elvis a boost in 1956?

Elvis Presley's self-titled debut album (1956)
Elvis Presley’s debut album

According to the U.S. baby name data, the name Elvis — which regularly ranked inside the boys’ top 1,000 during the first half of the 20th century — saw a steep rise in usage in 1956, and reached peak popularity in 1957:

  • 1959: 264 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 480th]
  • 1958: 372 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 405th]
  • 1957: 604 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 312th]
  • 1956: 417 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 362nd]
  • 1955: 65 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 924th]
  • 1954: 47 baby boys named Elvis

Here’s a visual:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Elvis in the U.S. since 1880
Usage of the baby name Elvis

What was influencing the name Elvis in the mid-1950s?

The King of Rock and Roll, of course. :)

Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1935. He was named after his father, Vernon Elvis Presley.

After graduating from high school (in Nashville, Tennessee) in 1953, he went to work as a truck driver — and also began recording songs at Sun Records.

By 1955, he’d become a regional star in the South. He was playing shows with country acts like Faron Young and The Carter Sisters.

But 1956 was the year Elvis became a national phenomenon.

He released “Heartbreak Hotel” in January. It became the best-selling song in the U.S. for eight weeks straight (from April to June). Among his other 1956 singles were “Hound Dog,” “Don’t Be Cruel,” and “Love Me Tender” — each of which took turns in the top-selling spot for a stretch of 16 weeks (from August to December).

Elvis also performed on various TV shows throughout 1956. He appeared on Stage Show six times (from January to March), the Milton Berle Show twice (in April and June), the Steve Allen Show once (in July), and the Ed Sullivan Show twice (in September and October). His September 9th appearance on the nation’s most popular variety show attracted 60 million viewers — over 82% of the television-viewing audience of the day — making it “the most-watched TV broadcast of the 1950s.”

Finally, in November, he was featured in his first movie, Love Me Tender. (His love interest was played by Debra Paget.) In its first week, the movie ranked in #2 at the box office behind James Dean’s final film, Giant.

In 1957, Elvis continued putting out best-selling singles (such as “Too Much,” “All Shook Up” and “Jailhouse Rock”). He appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show a third time (in January) and starred in two more movies: Loving You (released in July) and Jailhouse Rock (released in November).

A handful of the hundreds of baby boys named Elvis during these years were also given the middle name Presley. Some examples…

  • Elvis Presley White (b. May 1956, in Texas)
  • Elvis Presley Imes (b. July 1956, in North Carolina)
  • Elvis Presley Williams (b. October 1956, in Texas)
  • Elvis Presley Arrington (b. November 1956, in North Carolina)
  • Elvis Presley Hart (b. November 1956, in Ohio)
  • Elvis Presley Nettles (b. January 1957, in North Carolina)
  • Elvis Presley Weaver (b. January 1957, in Alabama)
  • Elvis Presley Day (b. June 1957, in North Carolina)
  • Elvis Presley Jamerson (b. August 1957, in Texas)

The original Elvis Presley went on to record hundreds of songs — 149 of which made an appearance on the pop charts — and star in 31 movies over the course of his career.

Sadly, that career was cut short when, in August of 1977, Elvis was found unconscious in his Memphis mansion, Graceland. He’d suffered a heart attack (“brought on largely by drug abuse”) and doctors were unable to revive him.

Elvis’ death at the age of 42 triggered not only a national outpouring of grief, but also a second spike in usage of the baby name Elvis:

  • 1980: 229 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 571st]
  • 1979: 274 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 504th]
  • 1978: 365 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 404th]
  • 1977: 299 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 467th]
  • 1976: 148 baby boys named Elvis [rank: 678th]

What are your thoughts on the name Elvis?

P.S. Mike Stoller, one of the songwriters behind “Hound Dog,” survived the sinking of the Andrea Doria in mid-1956.

Sources: Elvis Presley – Wikipedia, Elvis Presley – Britannica, Elvis – Television Appearances & Specials – Graceland.com, Elvis Presley’s 1956 – Graceland.com, List of Billboard number-one singles of 1956 – Wikipedia, Elvis Presley makes first appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” – History.com, FamilySearch.org, Mike Stoller recalls day he survived a wreck and discovered his Elvis hit – Elvis Australia, SSA

What gave the baby name Marylou a boost in 1961?

Ricky Nelson's single "Hello Mary Lou" (1961).
“Hello Mary Lou” single

The baby name Marylou was generally on the decline during the second half of the 20th century, but there was a conspicuous spike in usage in 1961 specifically:

  • 1963: 207 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 708th]
  • 1962: 207 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 719th]
  • 1961: 300 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 580th]
  • 1960: 227 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 675th]
  • 1959: 223 baby girls named Marylou [rank: 670th]

You can see it on the graph:

Graph of the usage of the baby name Marylou in the United States since 1880
Usage of the baby name Marylou

What caused the spike?

The Ricky Nelson song “Hello Mary Lou” (1961), which peaked at #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 chart in May of 1961.

It was written by Gene Pitney, but sounded enough like the earlier song “Merry, Merry Lou” [vid] by Cayet Mangiaracina that the two musicians are now credited as co-authors.

Here’s “Hello Mary Lou”:

The song was released as the B-side to Nelson’s #1 hit “Travelin’ Man.” It was also included on his sixth studio album, Rick Is 21.

That album title is notable because, on his 21st birthday, Nelson — born Eric Hilliard Nelson in 1940 — officially changed his recording name from “Ricky Nelson” to “Rick Nelson.”

The name change was a hard sell, though, because audiences had known him for so long as Ricky. He’d gone by “Ricky” on his family’s long-running sitcom, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (on radio and/or television from 1944 to 1966), and he’d continued to use “Ricky” when he launched his recording career in 1957. (His first five albums were called Ricky, Ricky Nelson, Ricky Sings Again, Songs by Ricky, and More Songs by Ricky.)

One of the ways he promoted his songs — “Hello Mary Lou” included — was by performing them at the end of weekly Ozzie and Harriet TV episodes. (Elvis Presley was a fan of these musical segments, incidentally.)

Getting back to Mary Lou…what are your thoughts on the compound name Marylou? Would you consider using it?

And, which song you like better: “Hello Mary Lou” from 1961, or “Mary Lou” from 1926?

Sources:

P.S. In April of 1963, Rick Nelson married 17-year-old Kristin Harmon. Later the same year, she began appearing regularly (as “Kris”) on Ozzie and Harriet. As a result, the names Kristin and Kris both saw increased usage in 1963.