Ferne
Ferne was last recorded in 2020, when 5 babies were given it; 4,676 Americans have been recorded with it between 1884 and 2020 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ferne by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Ferne?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,893, in 2020; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
247 babies in 1916, the peak
Ferne peaked in 1916, when 247 girls were given it, #400 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 5 | #15,893 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 5 | #16,676 | under 0.01 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,108 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,010 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 10 | #4,353 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 8 | #5,017 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 13 | #3,559 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 10 | #4,114 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 13 | #3,426 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 15 | #3,071 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (83)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 14 | #3,220 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 18 | #2,657 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 10 | #3,802 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 17 | #2,624 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 25 | #2,038 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 21 | #2,203 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 16 | #2,583 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 21 | #2,163 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 18 | #2,358 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 28 | #1,832 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 20 | #2,113 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 32 | #1,426 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 33 | #1,408 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 35 | #1,406 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 38 | #1,311 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 33 | #1,342 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 39 | #1,176 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 26 | #1,485 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 31 | #1,325 | 0.03 |
| 1937 | 53 | #953 | 0.05 |
| 1936 | 37 | #1,170 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 46 | #1,023 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 46 | #1,022 | 0.04 |
| 1933 | 50 | #977 | 0.05 |
| 1932 | 61 | #902 | 0.06 |
| 1931 | 49 | #1,001 | 0.05 |
| 1930 | 67 | #885 | 0.06 |
| 1929 | 67 | #870 | 0.06 |
| 1928 | 87 | #769 | 0.08 |
| 1927 | 103 | #714 | 0.09 |
| 1926 | 100 | #728 | 0.08 |
| 1925 | 127 | #653 | 0.10 |
| 1924 | 145 | #623 | 0.12 |
| 1923 | 175 | #544 | 0.15 |
| 1922 | 159 | #570 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 193 | #507 | 0.16 |
| 1920 | 202 | #481 | 0.17 |
| 1919 | 212 | #457 | 0.19 |
| 1918 | 225 | #441 | 0.19 |
| 1917 | 203 | #453 | 0.19 |
| 1916 | 247 | #400 | 0.24 |
| 1915 | 213 | #409 | 0.22 |
| 1914 | 145 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1913 | 107 | #492 | 0.17 |
| 1912 | 98 | #484 | 0.18 |
| 1911 | 60 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1910 | 68 | #493 | 0.17 |
| 1909 | 51 | #532 | 0.15 |
| 1908 | 54 | #495 | 0.16 |
| 1907 | 49 | #513 | 0.15 |
| 1906 | 40 | #557 | 0.14 |
| 1905 | 44 | #515 | 0.15 |
| 1904 | 36 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1903 | 46 | #471 | 0.18 |
| 1902 | 28 | #629 | 0.11 |
| 1901 | 36 | #511 | 0.15 |
| 1900 | 51 | #475 | 0.17 |
| 1899 | 28 | #582 | 0.12 |
| 1898 | 38 | #505 | 0.15 |
| 1897 | 37 | #472 | 0.16 |
| 1896 | 33 | #522 | 0.14 |
| 1895 | 24 | #631 | 0.10 |
| 1894 | 28 | #548 | 0.13 |
| 1893 | 29 | #515 | 0.14 |
| 1892 | 24 | #568 | 0.11 |
| 1891 | 17 | #648 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 18 | #623 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 11 | #818 | 0.06 |
| 1888 | 11 | #810 | 0.06 |
| 1887 | 7 | #979 | 0.05 |
| 1886 | 10 | #747 | 0.07 |
| 1885 | 6 | #968 | 0.05 |
| 1884 | 8 | #814 | 0.06 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Ferne a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ferne has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 83 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Ferne: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ferne, and how old are they?
An estimated 446 Americans named Ferne and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (10% of everyone recorded); the median is 80 years old and half are between 72 and 87. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 819 people named Ferne (801 women and girls, 18 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 694 born in the U.S. The Census count is 18% 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 Ferne born?
The states with the most babies named Ferne are Pennsylvania, Illinois and Iowa, with 45% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Iowa is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 455 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Illinois | 335 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Iowa | 308 | not ranked | 3.8× |
| Ohio | 156 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Nebraska | 134 | not ranked | 2.9× |
| Minnesota | 132 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Kansas | 129 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Wisconsin | 121 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| New York | 97 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 80 | not ranked | 0.6× |
Where Ferne is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ferne is most over-represented in Iowa: since 1910 it was given 3.8 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 Ferne with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ferne
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 Ferne and names like it
- Compare Ferne and MargueritteBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sFerne peaked in 1916.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ferne since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Ferne.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ferne alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with FMost given first.