Historically used as a nickname, Ellie is taking off as a name in its own right. This short and sweet name means
"light" and has English and French origins.
Ellie first became popular in the United Kingdom as a nickname for Ellen or Eleanor. Ellen is a variation of Helen (a Greek name meaning
"light," which gives Ellie its meaning), and Eleanor is the English version of the name Alienor from southern France.
Ellie can also be a nickname for many other popular names, including Elizabeth, Isabel/Isabella, Annabel/Annabella, Elena, Bella, Ella, Elsa, Penelope, and Eloise.
But increasingly, Ellie is a name that stands on its own. After falling off of the Social Security Administration
's list of the top 1,000 baby girl's names for 62 years, Ellie popped back up in spot 998 in 1992. Since then, it has grown more popular. In 2011, Ellie made it into the top 100 names for girls. In 2020, it was ranked as the 29th most popular name for baby girls in the United States.
Ellie is even more of a hit among BabyCenter parents; it
's typically in the top 15 names for girls. (BabyCenter's ranking is based on data from hundreds of thousands of parents who share their baby
's name with us.)
The name Ellie is pronounced "ell-ee" and doesn't have common alternative pronunciations. It
's almost always spelled Ellie, but less popular spellings include Elli and Elly. Ellie is almost always used as a girl's name, but it
's similar to the masculine name Eli. Like many popular names now for boys and girls (like Ava, Liam, Noah, and Aria) Ellie is short with melodic vowel sounds.
Ellie jumped significantly in popularity between 2009 and 2010, which could be partly because of Pixar's 2009 animated movie Up. In the movie, Ellie Fredricksen is the wife of grumpy hero Carl, and plays a major role in the movie
's events.
Ellie joins several other nicknames moving into the spotlight, including Archie, Mia, and Jack. Given how Ellie is growing, you can expect this name to continue to gain in popularity as both a nickname and a given name for years to come.
