Boy Names baby nameEli

What does the name Eli mean?

The meaning of the name “Eli” is: “Ascend; my God”.

Additional information: Although it’s unclear where exactly it came from, the name Eli is from a Hebrew origin. It either comes from the Biblical word meaning “ascent” or it is the short form of other popular Hebrew names. The first time significant time we see the name Eli recorded is in the Hebrew Bible, as Eli was the high priest in both 1st and 2nd Samuel. This name can also hold the meaning “my God” from the Hebrew language.

Eli may be used as the short form of names like Elijah, Elisha, Eliezer, or Elimelech, although the latter 3 of these names are not in common usage anymore and were most popular during Biblical times. It is occasionally spelled as Ely. There is no short form for the name Eli.

The popularity of the name Eli did not come until the late 1900s and early 2000s within English speaking countries. In 2014 it was ranked as the 49th most popular boy’s name in the US, the 123rd most popular boy’s name in England and Wales, the 76th most popular in Canada, the 63rd most popular in Australia, and the 39th most popular in New Zealand. These usage rankings reflect the peaks or close to the peaks in many of the countries that recorded the usage of the name Eli, as it was not a common name before the 2000s.

Some of the famous people and notable individuals who have held the name Eli include Eli Manning, an NFL player; Eli Whitney, an entrepreneur in the US; Eli Roth, a movie director; Eli Lilly, a scientist in the 1800s; Eli Tomac, a motorcycle racer; and Eli Craig, a screenwriter.