Ilijah

Meaning & origin

Ilijah is a modern respelling of the venerable biblical name Elijah, first recorded in the United States in 1996. Its peak in popularity came in 2012, after which it has been on a steady decline. In the most recent year with data, 2025, the name ranked 5399, with roughly 1 in 100,475 newborn boys receiving it. The name has never experienced widespread use, and its top states from the available data are none, indicating it does not concentrate in any particular region. As a contemporary invention, Ilijah reflects a broader naming trend where parents modify traditional names with slight spelling changes to create distinctive yet familiar-sounding choices. While its biblical roots connect it to the prophet Elijah, the variant Ilijah carries no distinct historical or cultural weight outside of its use as a unique given name.

Ilijah is a modern American variant of the biblical name Elijah, which derives from the Hebrew Eliyahu, meaning 'my God is Yahweh'. The spelling with 'I' instead of 'E' first appeared in the United States in the 1990s, possibly influenced by the popularity of names like Isaiah and the trend of using 'I' initials for boys. It has remained a rare name, never entering the top 1000.