Meaning and history
Eleanor comes from the Old French form of the Occitan name Alienòr, and one of its earliest and most famous bearers was Eleanor of Aquitaine (12th century), who married first Louis VII of France and later Henry II of England. She was reportedly named after her mother Aenor from the Latin phrase alia Aenor, meaning “the other Aenor,” though earlier bearers may have existed and their exact connection to the name is uncertain. The name became popular in medieval England through Eleanor of Aquitaine and two later queens, Eleanor of Provence, wife of Henry III, and Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I, and in modern times it was borne by Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962), wife of U.S. president Franklin Roosevelt.
20062006: 1,221 births, rank #269
2007: 1,272 births, rank #266
2008: 1,343 births, rank #255
2009: 1,486 births, rank #218
2010: 1,851 births, rank #166
20112011: 2,085 births, rank #150
2012: 2,383 births, rank #134
2013: 3,013 births, rank #106
2014: 3,740 births, rank #78
2015: 4,442 births, rank #60
20162016: 5,140 births, rank #41
2017: 5,549 births, rank #36
2018: 5,728 births, rank #32
2019: 6,198 births, rank #27
2020: 6,379 births, rank #22
20212021: 7,099 births, rank #15
2022: 6,927 births, rank #16
2023: 6,765 births, rank #14
2024: 7,147 births, rank #14
20252025: 7,649 births, rank #12
Eleanor has made a dramatic comeback. After first appearing in the US records in 1880, it fell to #693 by 1986, before climbing to #12 in 2025. Its highest annual birth count came in 1920, with 8,497 births.