girl's name
Elya
el-YA
- Origin French
- Gender Girl
- Letters 4
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 9,447
France
#105
2025 births
Elya is a unisex name of Hebrew origin, a form of Elijah meaning "my God is the Lord." It ranks 105th in France and is rising, and our data records it as a girl's name there despite its masculine source.
- Elya is a name of French origin.
- Peaked in France in 2023, when 710 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 1,179 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1981.
Elya over time
Births per decade in France, 1980s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1980s | 5 |
| 1990s | 55 |
| 2000s | 890 |
| 2010s | 3,755 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,690 |
What Elya means
Elya means my God is the Lord, inherited from Elijah. The Hebrew is a compound of two names for God — Eli and Yah — so the name is a statement of allegiance between them rather than a description of anyone.
Where Elya comes from
Elya is a short form of Eliyahu, the Hebrew behind Elijah, built from Eli, my God, and Yah, a shortened form of the divine name. The prophet Elijah confronts the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel in the first book of Kings and is taken up in a whirlwind rather than dying, which is why he returns in later Jewish and Christian expectation and why a cup is set for him at Passover. Elya is used in Russian and Hebrew as a familiar form of Ilya and Eliyahu respectively, both male. Its French use is recent and largely female, which follows the sound rather than the source — the -ya ending reads as feminine in French alongside Maya, Naya and Leya. A separate Arabic Alya, meaning exalted, is sometimes conflated with it.
Elya in use
Elya ranks 105th in France with about 670 births in 2025 and is rising with a peak in 2023. Our records carry it from 1981. It has a small life elsewhere at 4,325th in the United States and 4,018th in England and Wales. The gender split is the interesting part: the name is male in Hebrew and Russian use and female in French, which is a shift the French records make plain.
How popular is Elya?
In 2025, Elya was given to 500 babies in France, ranking #105 that year. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Elya is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
How Elya is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Élya | Élya is Elya written with an acute accent, used in France, where it ranks #328. | 1,095 |
| Ëlya | Ëlya is a rare spelling of Elya, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 25 times, mostly in France. | 25 |
Names that peaked alongside Elya
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Elya also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Elya over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Elya in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Elya
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Elya — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Elya
What does the name Elya mean?
Elya means "my God is the Lord," inherited from Elijah.
Is Elya a boy's or a girl's name?
In Hebrew and Russian use it is male. In France it is used for girls, which our data reflects.
Is Elya related to Ilya?
Yes — both are familiar forms of Eliyahu, the Hebrew behind Elijah.
How popular is Elya?
105th in France, where it is rising.
Is Elya a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Elya currently ranks #105 in France. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.