Ebony
Ebony was given to 23 girls in 2025, #5,451 among girls’ names; 39,453 Americans have been recorded with it since 1950 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 38,200 Americans named Ebony and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 34 and 45.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ebony by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ebony mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ebony is “a female given name from English.”
From ebony. First used by African Americans in the 1970s.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ebony?
#5,451 among girls’ names, 2025
Ebony fell from #3,039 in 2015 to #5,451 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 31.4 to 14.3 per million.
2,315 babies in 1982, the peak
Ebony peaked in 1982, when 2,315 babies were given it (2,279 girls, #132 among girls’ names). The 23 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 23 | #5,451 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 23 | #5,492 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 19 | #6,230 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 28 | #4,826 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 33 | #4,266 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 29 | #4,573 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 37 | #3,945 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 45 | #3,448 | 0.03 |
| 2017 | 47 | #3,355 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 70 | #2,546 | 0.04 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 56 | #3,039 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 71 | #2,518 | 0.04 |
| 2013 | 105 | #1,910 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 94 | #2,048 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 98 | #2,002 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 119 | #1,747 | 0.07 |
| 2009 | 171 | #1,384 | 0.09 |
| 2008 | 182 | #1,346 | 0.10 |
| 2007 | 208 | #1,206 | 0.11 |
| 2006 | 227 | #1,103 | 0.12 |
| 2005 | 257 | #961 | 0.14 |
| 2004 | 307 | #818 | 0.17 |
| 2003 | 333 | #749 | 0.18 |
| 2002 | 372 | #676 | 0.21 |
| 2001 | 380 | #662 | 0.21 |
| 2000 | 474 | #553 | 0.26 |
| 1999 | 530 | #489 | 0.30 |
| 1998 | 614 | #433 | 0.35 |
| 1997 | 722 | #375 | 0.41 |
| 1996 | 801 | #347 | 0.46 |
| 1995 | 907 | #306 | 0.52 |
| 1994 | 994 | #280 | 0.56 |
| 1993 | 1,164 | #241 | 0.64 |
| 1992 | 1,349 | #213 | 0.73 |
| 1991 | 1,526 | #195 | 0.81 |
| 1990 | 1,567 | #186 | 0.83 |
| 1989 | 1,577 | #176 | 0.86 |
| 1988 | 1,726 | #164 | 1.0 |
| 1987 | 1,748 | #157 | 1.0 |
| 1986 | 1,662 | #165 | 1.0 |
| 1985 | 1,787 | #160 | 1.0 |
| 1984 | 2,130 | #137 | 1.3 |
| 1983 | 2,219 | #135 | 1.3 |
| 1982 | 2,279 | #132 | 1.3 |
| 1981 | 1,554 | #178 | 0.93 |
| 1980 | 1,581 | #175 | 1.0 |
| 1979 | 1,443 | #184 | 0.90 |
| 1978 | 1,320 | #198 | 0.86 |
| 1977 | 1,157 | #213 | 0.75 |
| 1976 | 896 | #265 | 0.61 |
| 1975 | 616 | #352 | 0.42 |
| 1974 | 499 | #404 | 0.34 |
| 1973 | 299 | #552 | 0.21 |
| 1972 | 236 | #646 | 0.16 |
| 1971 | 167 | #828 | 0.10 |
| 1970 | 55 | #1,686 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 32 | #2,266 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 16 | #3,360 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,066 | under 0.01 |
| 1966 | 6 | #5,996 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 6 | #4,893 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ebony a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 39,453 Americans recorded as Ebony, 99% are girls and 1% boys. In 2025 it went to 23 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Ebony: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ebony, and how old are they?
38,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 39,453 Americans ever recorded as Ebony. The median Ebony alive today is 40 years old; half are between 34 and 45.
The 2020 Census counted 30,670 people named Ebony (30,452 women and girls, 218 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 38,370 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 8,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 24,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 5,050 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 582 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ebony born?
The states with the most babies named Ebony are New York, California and Texas, with 27% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 4,138 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| California | 3,298 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 2,495 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Florida | 2,118 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 2,094 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 1,846 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Ohio | 1,769 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| North Carolina | 1,734 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Georgia | 1,483 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Virginia | 1,450 | not ranked | 1.6× |
Where Ebony is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ebony is most over-represented in District of Columbia: since 1950 it was given 4.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ebony with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 52,437 babies since 1880, Ebony is the most given (75% of them). In 2025 it was given to 23 of their 23 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ebony
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ebony and names like it
- Compare Ebony and EboniBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sEbony peaked in 1982.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ebony since 1910.
- English namesWiktionary’s origin for Ebony: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Ebony.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Ebony alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with EMost given first.