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Elif: the meaning of the name and its rank, 2018–2025
Our established meaning for Elif, the two language entries in our table, and TÜİK girls' ranks for each year from 2018 to 2025, when it fell to eleventh.
Elif was second on TÜİK’s national top-30 list for girls in each year from 2018 to 2021. Its rank fell in later years, reaching eleventh in 2025. This guide covers what our database records about the meaning of Elif, the languages where we list it, and its rank in each year.
What the name means
Our stored meaning for Elif is alif, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, with the confidence level established. Our literal entry gives the Arabic ʾalif. Our database holds one meaning for Elif and no alternative entries.
Our summary says Wiktionary notes that the letter’s name is related to Greek alpha, and that the Turkish noun elif still refers to the same letter.
Where the name is used
Our table lists Elif for two languages. For Kyrgyz the usage status is recorded as in use. For Turkish it is recorded as unknown. No other language rows are recorded for the name.
How often it was given in Turkey, 2018–2025
In TÜİK’s girls’ top-30 lists, Elif ranked as follows:
- 2018: rank 2, count 9,893
- 2019: rank 2, count 8,288
- 2020: rank 2, count 7,363
- 2021: rank 2, count 6,433
- 2022: rank 5, count 5,684
- 2023: rank 6, count 4,685
- 2024: rank 7, count 4,196
- 2025: rank 11, count 3,713
The count fell in every year from 2018 to 2025. The rank went down in every year from 2021 to 2025, when it was second in 2021 and eleventh in 2025. The name stayed in the top ten in every year from 2018 to 2024, dropping out only in 2025. Its count in 2025, 3,713, was the lowest in the series, and its 2018 count of 9,893 was more than two and a half times that figure.
Where the data comes from
Ranks and counts come from TÜİK’s name statistics page, which covers the most-given newborn names for 2018–2025. Our chart uses the same national top-30 lists, and a year without a point means the name was not in that year’s top 30. The counts are births in those top-30 lists, not all births in Turkey. Meanings and languages come from our own database, and confidence levels are shown as stored.
Sources
- TÜİK (Turkish Statistical Institute) – newborn-name lists, 2018–2025