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Edsel

#12,548 in 2025Boys' name

Variant of Etzel

Edsel has been given to 3,962 babies in the U.S. since 1914. In 2025 it ranked #12,548 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1927, with 224 recorded.

Babies named Edsel, 2025

1 in 663,000

Edsel over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Edsel: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Etzel

Germanic languages and English

What Edsel means

Edsel is a variant of Etzel.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Edsel is used in Various.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

The automobile marque is named after Edsel Ford (1893–1943), son of Henry Ford.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Edsel (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Edsel is used in English and Cebuano. Its origins include Germanic languages and English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Etzel.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Cebuano, Edsel is pronounced /ˈʔedsel/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,962 boys were recorded with the name Edsel between 1914 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 224 in 1927; its best national rank was #399 in 1927.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #8,246 in 2020 to #12,548 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #8,230 in 2015 to #12,548 in 2025.

How common is Edsel?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#12,548
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Edsel sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Edsel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Edsels were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Edsel was born before 1935 — so the typical Edsel is around 90 today.

Median birth year
1935
About 90 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
33.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
5.9%
Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950
1,325
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 33.4% of all recorded uses (1,323).

Is Edsel rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−1,247
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,302
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,318
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.56×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
2.2%
Peak was 1927 (224)
Years since peak
98
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
43.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#399
1927

Spellings of Edsel

Edsel is not the most common spelling — Eden is, with 21.6% against Edsel's 7.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Edsel is used

Across 1910–2025, Edsel was most concentrated in West Virginia — about 1 in 10,000 boys, against 1 in 73,084 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

010 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1West Virginia1 in 10,000
  2. 2Alabama1 in 16,667
  3. 3Kentucky1 in 20,000
  4. 4Michigan1 in 20,000
  5. 5Arkansas1 in 33,333
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 33,333
  7. 7Georgia1 in 50,000
  8. 8Mississippi1 in 50,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Edsel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Edsel around the world

Where Edsel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • South Australia
    1946–2004
    #589
    in 2004

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Edsel

People whose public names include Edsel, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Edsel by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#12,548
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,302
Best rank ever
#399
1927
Peak year
1927
224 that year
First recorded
1914
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,962
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Edsel

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

EdsonAnselAkselHanselDieselBaselRusselBasselMarselErselHasselManselHerselEdsilJoselAxselEarselDenselEdsellJanselDorselYanselEdsolEtsel

Names with a curve like Edsel

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Edsel, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

WinfordBertrandArdellDillardHobertElwynAlvieElwinNormandLeeroyHillardDonal

Sibling names for Edsel

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Edsel

Top names of 1927, Edsel's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1927Boys' names starting with E