Popularity of the name Ethan, 1882–2025

Ethan was at its most popular in 2002, when 22,113 boys were given the name: about 1 in 88 boys born in the U.S. that year, ranking #5. In 2025, 7,852 boys were named Ethan, ranking #24. In all, Social Security counts 487,389 boys named Ethan since 1882. Social Security’s records also list 755 girls named Ethan.

Peak year

2002

Rank in 2002

#5

Babies in 2002

22,113

Rank in 2025

#24

Total since 1882

487,389

Where it stands now

Over the last ten years it has slipped from #6 in 2015 to #24 in 2025, with 15,103 boys named Ethan in 2015 and 7,852 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Ethan ranked highest in the 2010s, at #6, with 149,111 boys given the name that decade. It ranked #1,016 in the 1880s and #18 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 31 in 1920 (#1,300), 17 in 1940 (#1,680), 94 in 1960 (#788), 706 in 1980 (#291), 15,226 in 2000 (#25) and 9,556 in 2020 (#13).

Highs and lows

The most boys given the name in a single year was 22,210, in 2004. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more boys for 2004 than for 2002, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank in any year was #2, first reached in 2009.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1882 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 boys named Ethan, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.