Edna
Edna was given to 72 girls in 2025, #2,463 among girls’ names; 296,158 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 50,800 Americans named Edna and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (17% of everyone recorded); the median is 74 years old and half are between 62 and 83.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Edna by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Edna mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Edna is “a female given name from Hebrew.” Its etymology gives the sense “pleasure; delight” (עֶדְנָה).
From Hebrew עֶדְנָה (“pleasure; delight”); a variant of Eden in the Book of Tobit. In Ireland and Scotland it has been used as an anglicization of Eithne.
/ˈɛdnə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Edna?
#2,463 among girls’ names, 2025
Edna fell from #2,300 in 2015 to #2,463 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 45.4 to 44.8 per million.
8,730 babies in 1918, the peak
Edna peaked in 1918, when 8,730 babies were given it (8,698 girls, #23 among girls’ names). The 72 births of 2025 are under 1% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 72 | #2,463 | 0.04 |
| 2024 | 95 | #2,044 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 103 | #1,926 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 90 | #2,125 | 0.05 |
| 2021 | 91 | #2,091 | 0.06 |
| 2020 | 88 | #2,085 | 0.05 |
| 2019 | 82 | #2,238 | 0.05 |
| 2018 | 122 | #1,695 | 0.07 |
| 2017 | 75 | #2,409 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 84 | #2,275 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 81 | #2,300 | 0.05 |
| 2014 | 92 | #2,103 | 0.05 |
| 2013 | 97 | #2,006 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 95 | #2,035 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 100 | #1,974 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 102 | #1,964 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 104 | #1,992 | 0.06 |
| 2008 | 113 | #1,884 | 0.06 |
| 2007 | 136 | #1,638 | 0.07 |
| 2006 | 108 | #1,884 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 131 | #1,556 | 0.07 |
| 2004 | 139 | #1,460 | 0.08 |
| 2003 | 130 | #1,500 | 0.07 |
| 2002 | 126 | #1,500 | 0.07 |
| 2001 | 149 | #1,295 | 0.08 |
| 2000 | 126 | #1,458 | 0.07 |
| 1999 | 116 | #1,482 | 0.07 |
| 1998 | 132 | #1,330 | 0.07 |
| 1997 | 138 | #1,272 | 0.08 |
| 1996 | 137 | #1,269 | 0.08 |
| 1995 | 131 | #1,279 | 0.07 |
| 1994 | 149 | #1,182 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 171 | #1,063 | 0.09 |
| 1992 | 184 | #1,020 | 0.10 |
| 1991 | 212 | #910 | 0.11 |
| 1990 | 206 | #925 | 0.11 |
| 1989 | 236 | #807 | 0.13 |
| 1988 | 151 | #1,055 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 192 | #883 | 0.11 |
| 1986 | 175 | #919 | 0.10 |
| 1985 | 203 | #809 | 0.12 |
| 1984 | 207 | #778 | 0.12 |
| 1983 | 229 | #725 | 0.14 |
| 1982 | 217 | #761 | 0.13 |
| 1981 | 270 | #656 | 0.16 |
| 1980 | 284 | #643 | 0.17 |
| 1979 | 289 | #612 | 0.18 |
| 1978 | 271 | #623 | 0.18 |
| 1977 | 311 | #566 | 0.20 |
| 1976 | 277 | #588 | 0.19 |
| 1975 | 313 | #548 | 0.21 |
| 1974 | 315 | #532 | 0.21 |
| 1973 | 341 | #504 | 0.23 |
| 1972 | 402 | #462 | 0.26 |
| 1971 | 444 | #459 | 0.27 |
| 1970 | 448 | #466 | 0.26 |
| 1969 | 456 | #450 | 0.27 |
| 1968 | 499 | #424 | 0.30 |
| 1967 | 581 | #377 | 0.35 |
| 1966 | 680 | #342 | 0.40 |
| 1965 | 711 | #340 | 0.40 |
| 1964 | 790 | #340 | 0.42 |
| 1963 | 852 | #324 | 0.44 |
| 1962 | 981 | #294 | 0.50 |
| 1961 | 1,043 | #286 | 0.52 |
| 1960 | 1,105 | #271 | 0.55 |
| 1959 | 1,181 | #256 | 0.58 |
| 1958 | 1,227 | #244 | 0.61 |
| 1957 | 1,240 | #241 | 0.61 |
| 1956 | 1,550 | #205 | 0.77 |
| 1955 | 1,524 | #205 | 0.78 |
| 1954 | 1,679 | #189 | 0.86 |
| 1953 | 1,615 | #190 | 0.86 |
| 1952 | 1,746 | #177 | 0.94 |
| 1951 | 1,803 | #170 | 1.0 |
| 1950 | 1,853 | #157 | 1.1 |
| 1949 | 2,173 | #142 | 1.3 |
| 1948 | 2,096 | #139 | 1.2 |
| 1947 | 2,417 | #131 | 1.4 |
| 1946 | 2,280 | #126 | 1.5 |
| 1945 | 2,152 | #119 | 1.6 |
| 1944 | 2,394 | #112 | 1.8 |
| 1943 | 2,753 | #106 | 2.0 |
| 1942 | 2,764 | #99 | 2.0 |
| 1941 | 2,835 | #89 | 2.3 |
| 1940 | 2,835 | #86 | 2.5 |
| 1939 | 2,904 | #81 | 2.6 |
| 1938 | 3,080 | #82 | 2.8 |
| 1937 | 3,223 | #74 | 3.0 |
| 1936 | 3,305 | #71 | 3.2 |
| 1935 | 3,420 | #67 | 3.3 |
| 1934 | 3,809 | #55 | 3.6 |
| 1933 | 3,730 | #55 | 3.7 |
| 1932 | 4,279 | #50 | 4.0 |
| 1931 | 4,461 | #52 | 4.2 |
| 1930 | 4,762 | #51 | 4.2 |
| 1929 | 4,931 | #51 | 4.4 |
| 1928 | 5,473 | #45 | 4.7 |
| 1927 | 6,086 | #40 | 5.1 |
| 1926 | 6,396 | #38 | 5.4 |
| 1925 | 6,781 | #37 | 5.6 |
| 1924 | 7,408 | #31 | 5.9 |
| 1923 | 7,299 | #32 | 6.1 |
| 1922 | 7,622 | #29 | 6.3 |
| 1921 | 8,302 | #27 | 6.7 |
| 1920 | 8,331 | #27 | 7.0 |
| 1919 | 8,404 | #22 | 7.4 |
| 1918 | 8,698 | #23 | 7.5 |
| 1917 | 8,422 | #20 | 7.8 |
| 1916 | 8,625 | #19 | 8.3 |
| 1915 | 8,144 | #20 | 8.3 |
| 1914 | 6,289 | #19 | 8.3 |
| 1913 | 5,558 | #18 | 8.9 |
| 1912 | 5,136 | #16 | 9.2 |
| 1911 | 3,957 | #17 | 9.5 |
| 1910 | 3,664 | #18 | 9.2 |
| 1909 | 3,429 | #16 | 9.9 |
| 1908 | 3,365 | #17 | 10.1 |
| 1907 | 3,301 | #15 | 10.4 |
| 1906 | 3,011 | #15 | 10.2 |
| 1905 | 2,953 | #15 | 10.1 |
| 1904 | 2,762 | #15 | 10.0 |
| 1903 | 2,667 | #15 | 10.2 |
| 1902 | 2,754 | #13 | 10.4 |
| 1901 | 2,488 | #13 | 10.4 |
| 1900 | 3,102 | #12 | 10.3 |
| 1899 | 2,534 | #11 | 10.9 |
| 1898 | 2,813 | #12 | 10.9 |
| 1897 | 2,567 | #12 | 11.0 |
| 1896 | 2,604 | #13 | 10.9 |
| 1895 | 2,560 | #14 | 11.0 |
| 1894 | 2,458 | #15 | 11.0 |
| 1893 | 2,378 | #14 | 11.2 |
| 1892 | 2,218 | #18 | 10.4 |
| 1891 | 1,963 | #18 | 10.6 |
| 1890 | 1,973 | #18 | 10.4 |
| 1889 | 1,815 | #18 | 10.2 |
| 1888 | 1,687 | #22 | 9.4 |
| 1887 | 1,339 | #24 | 9.2 |
| 1886 | 1,314 | #23 | 9.1 |
| 1885 | 1,077 | #30 | 8.1 |
| 1884 | 957 | #36 | 7.4 |
| 1883 | 823 | #41 | 7.3 |
| 1882 | 783 | #39 | 7.3 |
| 1881 | 637 | #39 | 6.9 |
| 1880 | 588 | #45 | 6.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Edna a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Edna has been given almost only to girls: 1,042 boys in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Edna: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Edna, and how old are they?
50,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 17% of the 296,158 Americans ever recorded as Edna. The median Edna alive today is 74 years old; half are between 62 and 83.
The 2020 Census counted 68,962 people named Edna (68,857 women and girls, 105 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 68,325 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 16,000 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 21,900 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 6,110 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,980 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,920 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,170 |
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 Edna born?
The states with the most babies named Edna are Pennsylvania, Texas and New York, with 19% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 14,744 | #1,451 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 14,523 | #3,434 | 1.1× |
| New York | 14,025 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 13,209 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Kentucky | 9,956 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Ohio | 9,956 | #1,514 | 0.8× |
| Alabama | 9,220 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 9,089 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Tennessee | 8,983 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Illinois | 8,534 | #1,468 | 0.7× |
Where Edna is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Edna is most over-represented in Kentucky: since 1910 it was given 1.6 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 Edna 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 297,051 babies since 1880, Edna is the most given (100% of them). In 2025 it was given to 72 of their 79 babies (91%), 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 Edna
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 Edna and names like it
- Compare Edna and EdinaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sEdna peaked in 1918.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Edna since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Edna: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Edna.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Edna alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with EMost given first.