Eli as a name has two different meanings, both originating in the Hebrew Bible.
[2] Eli may alternatively be an unrelated abbreviation of Hebrew names[3] such as Elijah, Elias, Elisha, Eliezer, Elimelech, etc., all containing the element אלי, meaning "my God" and spelled with the Hebrew letter aleph in the beginning.
In the United States, the popularity of the given name Eli was hovering around rank 200 in the 1880s.
It declined gradually during the late 19th and early-to-mid 20th centuries, falling below rank 700 in 1964.
In a significant revival of the name's popularity in the early 1970s, it bounced back above rank 400 in 1976.