Ephraim

What Ephraim means

Means “fruitful”

From Hebrew אֶפְרַיִם (Efráyim, “Ephraim”, literally “fruitful”), via Latin.

Source: Wiktionary, “Ephraim” (revision 93790174), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ephraim?

US: Steady: #925 in 2015, #988 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #1236 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1880, when 18 boys got the name (#403 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 7,394 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 10,072 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ID (0.81 per 1,000 boys), UT (0.61 per 1,000 boys), IN (0.32 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Ephraim is #988 in the US and #1093 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Ephraim were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

Wiktionary only lists the US pronunciation so far.

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Efraim51 US · 23 E&W
• Ephrem13 US · 8 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Ephraim

Boys

• Asher#28Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #28 vs #150 in 2025
• Judah#178Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #178 vs #404 in 2025
• Jude#155possibly “praised”^*
• Gideon#337Editor’s note Down from #327 in 2015 to #337 in 2025 in the US
• Silas#71Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #71 vs #585 in 2025
• Eden#544possibly “steppe, garden”^*

For a sister

• Elliott#599“my God is Yahweh”^*
• Eden#70possibly “steppe, garden”^*
• Hadassah#569“myrtle”^*
• Eliana#10Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #102 in 2015, #10 in 2025. 6 letters, starting with a vowel
• Lilah#179Editor’s note Up from #314 in 2015 to #179 in 2025 in the US
• Zara#212“flower”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ephraim’s. Rank is US 2025.