About Edmund
Edmund is an Old English name combining “wealth” or “fortune” with “protection.” It survived the Norman Conquest and remains recognizable through royal history, mountaineer Edmund Hillary, and Edmund Pevensie in the Narnia stories. Its two syllables also allow familiar forms such as Ed and Ned.
Meaning and history
Edmund joins Old English ead, “wealth” or “fortune,” with mund, “protection.”
The name was borne by Anglo-Saxon kings and by a ninth-century king of East Anglia who became venerated as Saint Edmund. It continued in use after the Norman Conquest, although it became less common after the fifteenth century.
Edmond is a close related spelling. French Edmond, Irish Eamon, and Spanish and Portuguese Edmundo belong to the same wider name family.
Pronunciation and short forms
English Edmund is ED-mund, with two syllables and stress on the first. The second vowel is unstressed.
Ed, Eddie, Eddy, and Ned are established short forms.
Edmund Hillary
Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Mount Everest on 29 May 1953, making the first successful ascent. Their achievement is a partnership, with both names central to the history.
Photographs from the 1953 expedition preserve the climb and its aftermath. Alfred Gregory, the expedition’s official photographer, recorded the two climbers on the South-East Ridge before their summit attempt and during the celebrations that followed.
The expedition gives Edmund a lasting connection with mountaineering and exploration. The date remains one of the most familiar milestones in the history of climbing.
Edmund Pevensie
In C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Edmund is one of four siblings who enter Narnia. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy discover a land held in winter by the White Witch.
Edmund’s encounter with the Witch makes him central to the story’s conflict. She tempts him with promises that he will become a prince and have as much Turkish Delight as he wants, drawing him toward betrayal of his siblings.
That choice gives the character a more complicated role than simply belonging to the group of children who discover the magical world. The name is attached to a story involving temptation, loyalty, and the consequences of trusting an alluring promise.
Popularity in the United States
Edmund’s highest annual count was 1,145 boys in 1923. Its best rank was No. 130 in 1914. In 1950, it stood at No. 287 with 553 boys.
The total fell to 122 in 2000 and 95 in 2010. In 2025, 199 boys received the name, placing it at No. 1,082. The recent total is higher than in 2000 or 2010, while remaining well below its early twentieth-century prominence.
Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution
Meaning and history draw on the references below. Popularity figures use the local Social Security Administration series for this exact spelling and sex; counts below five are omitted. Existing Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA. Suggested shortenings are identified in the prose.
- Wiktionary: Edmund (English)
- Wiktionary: Edmund (Cebuano)
- Wiktionary: Edmund (Danish)
- Wiktionary: Edmund (German)
- Wiktionary: Edmund (Polish)
- Wiktionary: Edmund (Slovak)
- Social Security Administration: national name data
- Wikidata: Edmund Hillary
- Wikidata: Edmund Burke
- Wikidata: Edmund Husserl
- Wikidata: Edmund Spenser
- Wikidata: Edmund I
- Wikidata: Edmund Barton
- Wikidata: Edmund II of England
- Royal Geographical Society: Everest 1953
- C. S. Lewis: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
- C. S. Lewis: Edmund and the White Witch
Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
How popular is Edmund?
In 2025, Edmund ranked #1,082 among boys in the United States, with 199 recorded uses. The U.S. birth records first list this spelling for boys in 1880; its largest annual count was 1,145 in 1923. Rankings count each spelling separately. They describe national use, so local familiarity can differ. The popularity chart shows whether the name has remained common, returned after a quieter period, or risen recently.