Elke

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Girl · Low German / Frisian

Elke

Say it: EL-keh

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Low German and Frisian pet form of Adelheid ('noble kind').

Likelythe main view, with some doubt.

A common name in Germany in the 1950s and 1960s.

Its wave through time

Rare in the records

In the United States

1,080 babies given this name since 1953
At its height in 1968, about 1 in 21,900 girls
10 babies in 2020

Through the ages

The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

The family of the name

Other spellings: Elka

Dutch	Elke

Famous bearers

Elke Sommer, German actress

Names worth a look

KätheGirlGerman pet form of Katharina, from Greek Aikaterine, whose origin is unknown; the link to katharos 'pure' is a later…Victorian · peak 1944 · forgotten

SaskiaGirlProbably from a Germanic name based on Sahso 'Saxon'.Renaissance · peak 2002

LieselGirlGerman pet form of Elisabeth, from Hebrew Elisheva, usually explained as 'my God is an oath'.Victorian · peak 2015

JuniaGirlLatin, feminine of the Roman family name Junius, probably connected with the goddess Juno.Biblical

RicardaGirlFeminine of Richard, from Germanic ric 'ruler, powerful' and hart 'hard, brave'.Victorian · forgotten

HerthaGirlArose from a misreading of the goddess name Nerthus in manuscripts of Tacitus, then linked with German Erde 'earth';…Victorian · peak 1902 · forgotten

ElectraGirlFrom Greek ēlektron 'amber'.Greece · peak 1910

Where this comes from

National birth statistics of European countries source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.