Given name & surname · also Slavic
Ilija
Ilija is a masculine given name from Old Church Slavonic, ultimately from Biblical Hebrew. It is used in Serbo-Croatian.
Meaning & origin
Where it comes from
Ilija comes from Old Church Slavonic, and ultimately from Biblical Hebrew.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Old Church Slavonic Илїа, from Ancient Greek Ἠλίᾱς, from Biblical Hebrew אֱלִיָּה (ʾĕliyyā).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1971. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Ilija through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 177
- 177 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2024
- 13 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #12,736 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +100%
- Rising fast
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 12,736 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 607 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Ilija’s family of names
In German usage, Ilija has a related form in ILJA. In Serbo-Croatian usage, Ilija has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Elías. In Serbian usage, Ilija has a conventional equivalent in the French form Élie.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Ilija has relatives in 5 languages. Lines run from its Proto-Slavic roots to each of them.
5 related names in 5 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 5
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 18
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Ilija
- Ilija PetkovićSerbian footballer (1945-2020)
- Ilija GarašaninSerbian politician (1812-1874)
- Ilija NestorovskiMacedonian footballer (born 1990)
- Ilija BozoljacSerbian tennis playerborn 1985
- Ilija SpasojevićIndonesian footballerborn 1987
- Ilija Pantelićfootball goalkeeper from Serbia (1942-2014)
- Iliya ValovBulgarian footballer (1961–2024)
- Ilija TrojanowGerman writerborn 1965
- Ilija NajdoskiMacedonian footballer (born 1964)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Ilija, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Ibrohim
Ibrohim is a masculine given name from Classical Persian, ultimately from Biblical Hebrew. It is used in Uzbek.
>99% boys
Matija
“gift of Yahweh”
>99% boys
Phinehas
“the bronze-colored one”
>99% boys
Asser
“happy”
>99% boys
Mattathias
“gift of Yah”
>99% boys
Eelis
“Jehovah is my God”
>99% boys
Bezalel
“in the shadow of God”
>99% boys
Aser
Aser is a given name from Biblical Hebrew. It is used in Latin.
>99% boys