FastNamesEthan
Hebrew name meaning "Derived from Hebrew Eitan (אֵיתָן), meaning 'firm', 'strong', 'solid', or 'enduring'.". Ranked 24th for boys in 2025.
Meaning and origin of Ethan
Derived from Hebrew Eitan (אֵיתָן), meaning 'firm', 'strong', 'solid', or 'enduring'.
Linguistically, Ethan is classified under Hebrew naming traditions. It is typically pronounced "EE-thuhn".
Popularity and ranking
In official US Social Security birth records from 1880 through 2025, Ethan has been given to a total of 487,389 boys. It has also been given to 755 girls.
Peak year: Ethan reached its highest relative share among boys in 2002, when 22,113 babies received the name (11,390 per million births).
All-time best rank: 2nd place, first achieved in 2009.
Recent standing (2025): Ranked 24th with 7,852 births. Ten years earlier in 2015, it ranked 6th (down 18 spots).
Busiest decade: More boys were named Ethan in the 2000s than in any other decade (201,835 births).
| Decade | Recorded births |
|---|---|
| 1880s | 30 |
| 1890s | 31 |
| 1900s | 17 |
| 1910s | 184 |
| 1920s | 233 |
| 1930s | 225 |
| 1940s | 254 |
| 1950s | 553 |
| 1960s | 1,601 |
| 1970s | 5,301 |
| 1980s | 10,490 |
| 1990s | 66,930 |
| 2000s | 201,835 |
| 2010s | 149,111 |
| 2020s | 50,594 |
Source: Social Security Administration, national baby name data, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
Where Ethan is most common in the US
Accounting for when Ethan was in fashion nationally, it has been most heavily concentrated in the following states (measured against the expected rate from each state's births):
- Vermont: 2.0 times the national rate (1,149 births since 1910).
- Maine: 1.6 times the national rate (2,270 births since 1910).
- North Dakota: 1.5 times the national rate (1,597 births since 1910).
- New Hampshire: 1.4 times the national rate (2,179 births since 1910).
- Wyoming: 1.4 times the national rate (734 births since 1910).
Source: Social Security Administration, baby names by state, data through 2025. Names given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a state in a year aren't published, so totals are a little lower than actual births.
How many people have the name Ethan?
About 478,000 living American boys and men share the name Ethan. Additionally, an estimated 750 living American girls and women share the name.
The median age of an American named Ethan is 19 years old.
Estimated from Social Security Administration records (1880–2025) and official SSA cohort mortality tables.
History of the name Ethan
Ethan originates from the biblical Hebrew adjective eitan, denoting physical firmness, strength, or enduring constancy. In the Old Testament, Ethan the Ezrahite is praised in 1 Kings 4:31 as a sage whose profound wisdom was surpassed only by King Solomon, and he is traditionally credited with the authorship of Psalm 89. The Hebrew root was also used to describe strong, perennial streams that never dried up in summer.
The name was largely neglected in medieval European Christendom because Ethan was not a major apostolic or hagiographical figure. It was revitalized by English Puritans in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, who admired its austere biblical pedigree and positive moral connotation of spiritual fortitude. Emigrants carried it to the American colonies, where it attained patriotic fame through Ethan Allen (1738–1789), leader of the Green Mountain Boys during the American Revolutionary War.
For most of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Ethan remained a quiet, traditional New England name, often ranking well outside the national top 300. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Ethan underwent a breathtaking transformation, propelled by parental preference for brisk, vowel-rich biblical names. Ethan broke into the top ten in 2002 and held rank within the top five from 2004 to 2011, peaking at rank 2 nationally in 2009 and 2010.
Notable people named Ethan
- Ethan Allen (1738–1789), Patriot and military leader
- Ethan Hawke (1970–), Actor and filmmaker
- Ethan Coen (1957–), Filmmaker and writer
Variants and related names
Spelling variants
Diminutives and nicknames
Sources and references
- Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names (2006), p. 93.
- E. G. Withycombe. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (1977), p. 109.
- Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, Charles A. Briggs. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), p. 450.