Elvis
Meaning
meaning uncertain, possibly all-wise (Norse Alviss) or Irish Ailbhe
The story
Elvis is a name scholars still argue over; the gentlest theory traces it to Ailbhe, an early Irish saint, though no one can say for certain. What is certain is the man. Elvis Presley, the boy from Tupelo, Mississippi, walked into a Memphis studio in the 1950s and came out the King of Rock and Roll, remaking American music, fashion and manners in roughly that order. He inherited the name honestly: it was his father Vernon's middle name, and the records show Elvis already in quiet American use well before the fame. When Presley shook the country in the 1950s, the name rose right along with him; we cannot prove he carried it upward, but the timing is hard to ignore. It has since settled back into a steady, quieter life, a name that belongs, in most minds, to exactly one person, forever.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Elvis peaked in the 2000s.
Popularity in Brazil
23,842 people · the #946 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 8,547 · median age 32
Among people named Elvis living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1990s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 229 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Elvis
People given the name Elvis in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1960 to 2009. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Elvis deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Elvis truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Elvis fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Elvis fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Elvis to your family’s tree →