Ethan

What Ethan means

Means “firmness, strong, or long-lived”

From Biblical Hebrew אֵיתָן (ʾêṯān, literally “firmness, strong, or long-lived”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Ethan” (revision 94539140), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ethan?

US: Falling: down from #6 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #18 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2002, when 22,113 boys got the name (#5 that year). First in the US records in 1882.

How common

• About 1 in 218 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 297 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 252 baby boys in Scotland 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 RI (8.32 per 1,000 boys), MD (7.99 per 1,000 boys), CT (7.57 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Ethan is #24 in the US and #54 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 Ethan were boys.

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

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Eithan3,636 US · 11 E&W
• Eythan176 US
• Athan48 US · 5 E&W
• Ithan41 US
• Aithan40 US
• Athen21 US
• Ethen17 US · 4 E&W
• Aythan7 US

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 Ethan

Boys

• Gabriel#37Finnish, meaning “God is my strong man, God is my hero”^*
• Issac#915Variant of Isaac, meaning “he laughs, he will laugh”^*
• Kaleb#295“dog”^*
• Emanuel#574Spanish, meaning “God is with us”^*
• Isaiah#57Editor’s note Down from #49 in 2015 to #57 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 320 US boys in the 2025 records
• Isaac#47“he laughs, he will laugh”^*

For a sister

• Annika#995Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2003, with 1,089 babies; 254 in 2025
• Isabel#176“my God is an oath”^*
• Daniella#468Form of Daniel, meaning “God is my judge”^*
• Abigail#41“my Father's joy”^*
• Gabriella#105Editor’s note Down from #54 in 2015 to #105 in 2025 in the US
• Daniela#302Form of Daniel, meaning “God is my judge”^*

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