Ether
Ether was last recorded in 2018, when 5 babies were given it; 1,285 Americans have been recorded with it between 1883 and 2018 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ether by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ether?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,233, in 1964; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
49 babies in 1920, the peak
Ether peaked in 1920, when 49 babies were given it (43 girls, #1,158 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | 6 | #6,233 | 3.2 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,373 | 2.5 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,611 | 2.9 |
| 1955 | 9 | #4,165 | 4.6 |
| 1954 | 5 | #5,994 | 2.6 |
| 1952 | 13 | #3,084 | 7.0 |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,506 | 3.9 |
| 1950 | 9 | #3,765 | 5.3 |
| 1949 | 10 | #3,455 | 5.8 |
| 1948 | 9 | #3,675 | 5.3 |
Every recorded year (71)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | 12 | #3,109 | 6.8 |
| 1946 | 8 | #3,765 | 5.1 |
| 1945 | 13 | #2,502 | 9.9 |
| 1944 | 12 | #2,661 | 9.0 |
| 1943 | 17 | #2,180 | 12.2 |
| 1942 | 14 | #2,456 | 10.4 |
| 1941 | 11 | #2,724 | 9.1 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,616 | 9.6 |
| 1939 | 10 | #2,779 | 9.1 |
| 1938 | 21 | #1,716 | 19.0 |
| 1937 | 26 | #1,466 | 24.4 |
| 1936 | 24 | #1,519 | 23.1 |
| 1935 | 14 | #2,235 | 13.4 |
| 1934 | 22 | #1,620 | 21.1 |
| 1933 | 27 | #1,415 | 26.8 |
| 1932 | 24 | #1,572 | 22.5 |
| 1931 | 32 | #1,294 | 30.1 |
| 1930 | 24 | #1,626 | 21.3 |
| 1929 | 21 | #1,776 | 18.8 |
| 1928 | 23 | #1,746 | 19.9 |
| 1927 | 41 | #1,219 | 34.4 |
| 1926 | 28 | #1,552 | 23.6 |
| 1925 | 28 | #1,585 | 23.0 |
| 1924 | 38 | #1,305 | 30.4 |
| 1923 | 34 | #1,366 | 28.2 |
| 1922 | 30 | #1,513 | 25.0 |
| 1921 | 48 | #1,102 | 38.9 |
| 1920 | 43 | #1,158 | 35.9 |
| 1919 | 40 | #1,181 | 35.4 |
| 1918 | 21 | #1,828 | 18.1 |
| 1917 | 32 | #1,290 | 29.6 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,755 | 19.2 |
| 1915 | 31 | #1,267 | 31.5 |
| 1914 | 28 | #1,158 | 36.8 |
| 1913 | 11 | #1,939 | 17.6 |
| 1912 | 15 | #1,437 | 26.9 |
| 1911 | 16 | #1,132 | 38.2 |
| 1910 | 23 | #901 | 58.0 |
| 1909 | 15 | #1,072 | 43.2 |
| 1908 | 18 | #952 | 53.8 |
| 1907 | 12 | #1,162 | 37.7 |
| 1906 | 12 | #1,117 | 40.6 |
| 1905 | 12 | #1,114 | 41.1 |
| 1904 | 12 | #1,067 | 43.6 |
| 1903 | 11 | #1,088 | 42.0 |
| 1902 | 17 | #853 | 64.4 |
| 1901 | 9 | #1,164 | 37.6 |
| 1900 | 21 | #813 | 70.1 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,468 | 25.7 |
| 1898 | 16 | #854 | 61.8 |
| 1897 | 10 | #1,060 | 42.7 |
| 1896 | 8 | #1,241 | 33.6 |
| 1895 | 8 | #1,227 | 34.2 |
| 1894 | 5 | #1,559 | 22.4 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,327 | 28.2 |
| 1892 | 7 | #1,204 | 33.0 |
| 1891 | 8 | #1,036 | 43.1 |
| 1890 | 9 | #962 | 47.3 |
| 1889 | 8 | #973 | 44.9 |
| 1886 | 7 | #927 | 48.4 |
| 1883 | 5 | #962 | 44.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ether a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,285 Americans recorded as Ether, 94% are girls and 6% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Ether: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ether, and how old are they?
An estimated 182 Americans named Ether and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (14% of everyone recorded); the median is 81 years old and half are between 74 and 88. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 304 people named Ether (206 women and girls, 98 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 277 born in the U.S. The Census count is 10% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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 Ether born?
The states with the most babies named Ether are Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, with 84% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Mississippi and Alabama are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi | 252 | not ranked | 11.1× |
| Alabama | 49 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Georgia | 42 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Louisiana | 23 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Arkansas | 19 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| South Carolina | 18 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Ether is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ether is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1910 it was given 11.1 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 Ether 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,834 babies since 1880, Ether is the most given (70% of them).
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 Ether
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 Ether and names like it
- Compare Ether and EatherBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sEther peaked in 1920.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ether since 1910.
- The top names of 1920The year the most babies were named Ether.
- The names of the Silent GenerationMost people named Ether alive today were born 1928-1945.
- Names starting with EMost given first.