Elia is the Italian form of Elijah, the Hebrew prophet's name meaning "my God is Yahweh" or "the Lord is my God"; in Italy and Spain it is a boys' name, but in the United States it is used mainly for girls as a short cousin of Eliana and Elliana. It is also found as a short form of Greek and Spanish names like Eulalia. For girls Elia climbed from number 2179 in 2000 into the US top 1000 in 2021, peaked at number 841 in 2024 and ranks number 970 in 2025.