Elam
surname · Latin script
Meaning: Elam is a biblical boy's name of Hebrew origin with several proposed meanings, including 'eternity,' 'hidden,' or 'highland'
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/iːləm/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Elam is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country.
- USUnited States1 in 24K(measured from records)
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 31K
- CNChina≈1 in 20K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- China (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 403 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 20K (inferred from the name graph)
≈70,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
China, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
Elam is a biblical boy's name of Hebrew origin with several proposed meanings, including 'eternity,' 'hidden,' or 'highland.' In the Bible, it is the name of multiple figures, most notably a son of Shem, but also the ancestor of a family that returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, symbolizing restoration and heritage.
Sources 1
- Biblical Names Compiled Database
Often considered alongside
Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Elam, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.
From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Elam counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN China | ≈70,000 est. | ≈1 in 20K | — | Elam | 4 |
| US United States | 14,138 | 1 in 24K | 14K | Elam | 403 |
| NG Nigeria | ≈2,900 est. | ≈1 in 74K | — | Elam | 22 |
| GB United Kingdom | ≈2,100 est. | ≈1 in 31K | — | Elam | 93 |
| IT Italy | ≈1,000 est. | ≈1 in 60K | — | Elam | 11 |
| SG Singapore | ≈310 est. | ≈1 in 20K | — | Elam | 5 |
| LB Lebanon | ≈220 est. | ≈1 in 25K | — | Elam | 4 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Elam is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם) is believed to derive from a root word meaning "to be hidden" or "concealed" (עלם). It can carry connotations of "eternity," "hidden time," or "distant." The name is also associated with the ancient country of Elam, east of Babylonia, which in Assyrian meant "highland."
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The Hebrew name Elam (עֵילָם) is associated with several meanings, including "highland," "hidden," "eternity," or "young man". [2, 3, 5, 7] The meaning "highland" is often connected to the ancient civilization of Elam, located in the highlands east of Mesopotamia. [1, 5]
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The Hebrew name Elam is likely derived from a root word meaning "hidden" or "distant". It is also associated with concepts like "eternity" or "highland".
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
A biblical name of Hebrew origin meaning 'highland' or 'forever'; it is rare in modern usage.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Elam is a boy's name of Hebrew origin with several possible meanings, including "eternity," "hidden," or "highlands". [3] It is the name of multiple figures in the Old Testament, most notably a grandson of Noah. [4] Though it has a rich historical and biblical background, the name is relatively uncommon in modern times. [1]
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Joseph Barton Elamb. 1821USUnited States Representative from Louisiana (1821-1885)
- Norah Elamb. 1878GBBritish suffragist (1878-1961)
- Constance Tipperb. 1894GBnot in their usual nameBritish metallurgist and crystallographer (1894–1995)
- Jack Elamb. 1920USAmerican actor (1920–2003)
- Esther Elamb. 1939ILfounder of Israeli feminist movement, gender researcher and activist
- Gurub. 1961USnot in their usual nameAmerican rapper (1961–2010)
- Jason Elamb. 1970USplayer of American football
- Lee Elamb. 1976GBprofessional footballer (born 1976)
- Katrina Elamb. 1983USAmerican country singer
- Kaiir Elamb. 2001USAmerican football cornerback
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 43 sources across 21 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 14K | #2,556 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 14K | #2,413 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 13K | #2,623 |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 5
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does the name Elam come from?
- Elam is a biblical boy's name of Hebrew origin with several proposed meanings, including 'eternity,' 'hidden,' or 'highland.' In the Bible, it is the name of multiple figures, most notably a son of Sh… Recorded by Biblical Names Compiled Database.
- How do you pronounce Elam?
- A machine transcription gives /iːləm/ (IPA) for English.
- What does the name Elam mean?
- Recorded meaning: Elam is a biblical boy's name of Hebrew origin with several proposed meanings, including 'eternity,' 'hidden,' or 'highland.'
- In which country does Elam have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 70 thousand people named Elam in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled elam.
- How common is the name Elam?
- In the United States, the national register counted 14,138 people named Elam in 2010, about 1 in 24 thousand residents.
What do you want to know about Elam?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/elamThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Elam”. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.