Elijah
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a unisex given name from Hebrew, of chiefly male usage. From Hebrew אליהו (Eliyahu, literally “Yahweh is my god”). Doublet of Ilya and Iliya. Compare Joel. See also Arabic إلياس.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Elijah (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Elijah has been rising over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2020. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | – |
| 2000 | – |
| 2001 | – |
| 2002 | – |
| 2003 | – |
| 2004 | 6 |
| 2005 | 3 |
| 2006 | 8 |
| 2007 | 4 |
| 2008 | 8 |
| 2009 | 3 |
| 2010 | 12 |
| 2011 | 12 |
| 2012 | 18 |
| 2013 | 16 |
| 2014 | 12 |
| 2015 | 23 |
| 2016 | 14 |
| 2017 | 26 |
| 2018 | 24 |
| 2019 | 26 |
| 2020 | 35 |
| 2021 | 24 |
| 2022 | 27 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 11 |
| 2000 | 13 |
| 2001 | 16 |
| 2002 | 23 |
| 2003 | 22 |
| 2004 | 27 |
| 2005 | 32 |
| 2006 | 41 |
| 2007 | 46 |
| 2008 | 55 |
| 2009 | 60 |
| 2010 | 74 |
| 2011 | 87 |
| 2012 | 108 |
| 2013 | 127 |
| 2014 | 146 |
| 2015 | 170 |
| 2016 | 191 |
| 2017 | 222 |
| 2018 | 246 |
| 2019 | 276 |
| 2020 | 312 |
Elijah in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Elijah.Hi! My name is Elijah.
- Elijah har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Elijah has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jag ska fika med Elijah i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Elijah this afternoon.
- Elijahs mamma är lärare.Elijah's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Elijahs mamma is Elijah's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Elijah
How do you pronounce Elijah in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Elijah in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Elijah mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a unisex given name from Hebrew, of chiefly male usage. From Hebrew אליהו (Eliyahu, literally “Yahweh is my god”). Doublet of Ilya and Iliya. Compare Joel. See also Arabic إلياس.
How popular is Elijah in Sweden?
27 babies were named Elijah in 2022. In 2020, 312 people in Sweden had Elijah as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been rising lately and peaked in 2020 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.