How rare is the name Ethel?

41,868 people in the United States have the first name Ethel, about 1 in 7,214. It ranks #1,018 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

ETHEL

#1,018

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
41,868
About
1 in 7,214
This common or more
70.3%
Who bears it

Of the 41,868 people named Ethel, 54.2% reported their origin as White, 37.2% as Black and 3.2% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are female (99.7%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Ethel peaked in 1918, when 8,110 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1918
Births that year
8,110
In 2025*
34 ▼100%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 280,412 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Ethel by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1890s, when it ranked #13. The largest share of babies named Ethel, 53%, were born between 1901 and 1927, the Greatest Generation's birth years.

1880s#3014,939
1890s#1331,593
1900s#1935,049
1910s#4263,949
1920s#7663,144
1930s#14531,861
1940s#25620,688
1950s#44711,600
1960s#7994,721
1970s#1,5391,499
1980s#3,212547
1990s#6,450272
2000s#10,602187
2010s#10,702198
2020s#8,371165
Before 190118%
Greatest Generation 1901–2753%
Silent Generation 1928–4519.4%
Baby boom 1946–647.9%
Generation X 1965–801.2%
Millennials 1981–960.2%
Generation Z 1997–120.1%
2013 and later0.1%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Ethel is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Ethel has been most common in Mississippi (3.3×), South Carolina (2.7×), and Alabama (2.5×), and least common in Arizona (0.17×).

195,283 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Ethel

#1,016 Julianna · 41,990#1,017 Jasmin · 41,915#1,019 Gerard · 41,777#1,020 Alina · 41,648

Spelled almost the same

4 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Ethel, most common first.

#23,505 Ethyl · 416#36,185 Ethal · 220#38,064 Etel · 203#41,955 Ettel · 173

Compare