Rarely do I find modern names so much to my taste as I do Elowen! Although she sounds Welsh, she’s actually Cornish and means “elm tree.” Pronunciation-wise, the second syllable is supposed to be emphasized – i.e., Elle-OH-when. However, most people (myself included) probably emphasize the first syllable (like ELLE-oh-when). 36 girls were named Elowen in 2015.
Cornish is a rare and endangered language, but don’t underestimate Elowen. Another Cornish name, Jennifer, transitioned from utter obscurity at the dawn of the 20th century into the #1 American girls’ name by the 1970s. That took several decades, but maybe Elowen will rise faster in the days of the internet.
Usage is growing steadily on this spelling alone, but popularity for the alternative spelling Elowyn nearly tripled between 2014 and 2015, from 24 to 67 uses! That Elowyn is more popular than Elowen is curious, but not completely out-of-the-blue when you consider that Americans tend to spell other (mostly Welsh) names ending in -wen instead with -wyn (i.e., Bronwen and Gwendolen usually become Bronwyn and Gwendolyn). Another spelling, Ellowyn, registered 34 times last year. There’s also Ella-influenced Ellawyn at 7 uses. If you rank names by combined spellings (as some people do), that means 144 baby girls were called Elowen last year…an average of almost 3 per state. There may be even more, if there were spellings too rare to show up in the extended data. Either way, don’t be shocked to find one on the playground.
The most obvious nicknames for an Elowen are Ella and Ellie, but Winnie is arguably possible as well. I can even see where a fan of Netflix’s Stranger Things might use this name to honor Eleven without calling their daughter a number.
What do you think of Elowen? Do you think she or Elowyn will enter the top 1000 at some point?
The Well-Informed Namer 
I like that name a lot! Also sounds a bit Scottish. Hopefully if it gains in popularity I’ll actually get to meet an Elowen and now I’ll know how to properly pronounce it from its Cornish roots.
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Meeting an Elowen would definitely be cool! I think it’ll be awhile though, since the vast majority of them are under the age of 6. I’m pretty sure it only entered the U.S. data in 2008!
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I’ve always thought Elowen was a lovely name and I like saying it- it just has this fairy-like feel to it and I especially love its meaning!
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“Fairy-like” is a good descriptor!
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I love the name Elowen. My husband and I have decided it will be our future baby girl’s name. It sounds so whimsical and just rolls off the tongue. I fell in love with with it as soon as I heard it. I love whimsical nature related names. This is perfect.
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My husband loves this name – it is our leader for our baby girl due in 3 weeks! We have a Scottish last name that works will with it, so pretty sure this little one will be Elowen Gene!
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Congratulations! And Elowen Gene is a lovely combo. 🙂
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My Five month Grandaughter is Elowen Rae……she is beautiful! Big blue eyes,and red blonde hair…..had doubts about her name when first told, but now I can’t imagine any other name!
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Our four year old daughter is Elowen. We just found out my husband’s family is originally from Cornwall. How canny.
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I’d just like to point out that when the websites you used when researching Elowen say it’s a modern name what they mean is that they mean it’s a modern (20th century) Cornish word, if the Victorians were as hard on the Cornish language as they were with Welsh then it is very likely that by the time Queen Victoria died none in Cornwall would have spoken Cornish for at least 30/40 years so when the revival came people largely made it up
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