Eli
From Hebrew, where the root means to ascend, to rise up. Still rare in Poland, where most people have never met one, and it goes to girls and boys alike.
Eli Pronunciation
Eli is pronounced E-lee (/ˈɛli/).
What Eli means
Where Eli comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Eli comes from Hebrew, where the root points toward ascending, toward rising up. The short sense given to it, ascension, sits close to a second reading, "my God," and both belong to the same small cluster of Hebrew sounds. Both readings are old.
In the Hebrew Bible, Eli is the high priest at Shiloh who raises the boy Samuel (1 Samuel). The name surfaces again in the Gospels, in the cry from the cross, "Eli, Eli" (Matthew 27:46). Because of these texts, Eli grew familiar in English and Jewish life alike, sometimes standing on its own and sometimes shortening a longer form such as Elijah or Elias.
A boy called Eli in Poland today would land on a class register among longer, more expected names. Eli has no Polish diminutive of its own, so it stays as it is, four letters and one clean stress. What travels with it is the old meaning: to ascend, to rise.
How many people are named Eli
1 in 124832 men in Poland is named Eli. 208 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2176 among male names.
Eli's popularity over time
4 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1035 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2020.
Eli as a middle name
Eli is a first name for 208 men in Poland and a middle name for another 72, a 74/26 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 851st, between Charbel (72) and Gerardo (72).
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#849 Son73
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#850 Charbel72
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#851 Eli72
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#852 Gerardo72
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#853 Wasyl72