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🔥Elias

ee-LIE-us; ih-LIE-us; eh-LEE-us;EH-lee-us
Greek variation of Elijah, Hebrew
"Yahweh is God"
Sophie Kihm
By Sophie Kihm
Updated Mon Jul 14 2025

Elias Origin and Meaning

The name Elias is a boy's name of Greek origin meaning "Yahweh is God".

Strong, charismatic, and sleek, Elias has followed in the footsteps of Elijah and Eli to become a popular choice among parents today.

While it may sound cool and fresh, Elias is a name with history and substance. It is the Greek form of the name Elijah, meaning "Yahweh is God," and was used in both the Greek New Testament and medieval tales. Elias was then given to early saints, to honor the miracles and work of the popular Biblical figure.

Revived by Puritans in the 18th century, notable namesakes include the inventor of the sewing machine, Elias Howe, writer Elias Canetti and Walter Elias Disney.

Felix Mendelssohn composed a popular oratorio named "Elias", while Sir Walter Scott, Anthony Trollope, and Thomas Hardy all have characters called Elias in their novels, giving the name literary and classical charm.

In the US, Elias has seen significant usage from the 90s onwards with its popularity doubling during the 2010s.. Given to over 7600 boys in a recent year, Elias continues to climb the charts and has overtaken Eli as a go to El- choice.

While still outranked by Elijah in the US, across Europe and South America, Elias is the preferred form. Popular in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Uruguay, and Mexico, Elias travels well. Most recently, it entered the UK Top 100 in 2022, replacing Ollie.

The name has been chosen for characters in the popular horror podcast, The Magnus Archives, Cassandra Clare's trilogy "The Infernal Devices", and the TV series "Person of Interest." Elias has the celebrity seal of approval too, with singer Michael Bublé, actor Robert Downey Jr, tennis player Boris Becker and actress Barbara Becker choosing to use it for their sons.

Handsome and refined as it is, the main problem with Elias is deciding whether you want to use it, or keep Elijah, Eli, Elliot, Elio, Eliza, Elizabeth, or Elise in the running. To avoid the problem, you could go with similar but lower ranking Tobias, Linus, or Ozias.

# 25 in the US

Elias Rank in US Top 1000

# 52 on Nameberry

Elias Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Popularity of the name Elias

20 Names Similar to Elias

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Elias.

Famous People Named Elias

  • Elias Abdulmajid
    brother of supermodel Iman
  • Elias Becker
    son of tennis player and model Boris and Barbara Becker
  • Elias Boudinot
    American politician
  • Elias Breeskin
    Russian violinist
  • Elias Bublé
    son of singer Michael Bublé
  • Elias Canetti
    awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature
  • Elias James Corey
    American chemist
  • Elias D'Onofrio
    son of actor Vincent D'Onofrio
  • Elias Dayton
    American soldier and politician
  • Elias Charles Disney
    Canadian businessman, father of Walt Disney
  • Elias Goldberg
    American painter
  • Elias Gottlob Haussmann
    German painter
  • Elias Logan Harger
    American actor
  • Elias Holl
    German architect
  • Elias Howe
    American inventor of the sewing machine
  • Elias Kane
    American politician
  • Elias Koteas
    Greek,Canadian actor
  • Elias Lindholm
    Swedish hockey player
  • Elias ibn Mudar
    Arab chieftain, ancestor of the Prophet Muhammad
  • Elias of Armenia
    Armenian religious leader
  • Elias Bender Rønnenfelt
    Danish musician of band Iceage
  • Elias Alves da Silva
    Brazilian football player
  • Elias Toufexis
    Greek,Canadian actor
  • Elias Wright
    American Union brevet brigadier general during the Civil War era
  • Exton Elias Downey
    son of actor Robert Downey Jr
  • Walter Elias "Walt" Disney
    American founder of Disney

The name Elias in Pop Culture

  • Elias Malmgren
    a central character in Sara B Elfgren & Mats Strandberg's "Cirkeln" trilogy
  • Elias Acorn
    character in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series
  • Elias Bogan
    character in Marvel Comics
  • Elias Grover
    character in the 2006 film "Clerks II"
  • Sergeant Elias Grodin
    character in 1986 film "Platoon"
  • Elias
    fictional character in Panel de Pon
  • Elias Ryker
    character in Richard K. Morgan's novel, Altered Carbon
  • Elias "Eli" Thompson
    character on TV's "Boardwalk Empire"
  • Elias Walker
    character in the 2013 video game "Call of Duty: Ghosts"
  • Elias Ainsworth
    character in anime and manga "The Ancient Magus' Bride"
  • Dr. Elias Huer
    character from "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979)
  • Carl G. Elias
    known as Elias, crime boss on TV's "Person of Interest"
  • Elias Goldstein
    character in video game "Shall We Date?"
  • Elias Story
    pseudonym of Isolt Sayre in J.K. Rowling's "Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry"
  • Elias Veturius
    main character in the book series "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
  • Elias Bakkoush
    character in Norwegian TV show "Skam"
  • Elias
    a character from the young adult books, "The Dead,Tossed Waves" and "The Dark and Hollow Places" by Carrie Ryan
  • Elias
    a character from Jose Rizal's "Noli Me Tangere"
  • Elias
    character in the novel Hotel Ruby by Suzanne Young
  • Elias Black
    character in the 2017 video game “Prey”
  • Elias Bouchard
    character on "The Magnus Archives"

The name Elias in Nameberry Blog Posts