Name Awesome

Ephraim

#988 in 2025Boys' name

Fruitful

Ephraim has been given to 8,236 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #988 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2017, with 260 recorded.

Babies named Ephraim, 2025

1 in 14,400

Ephraim 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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ephraim: meaning, origin, and history

Fruitful

Hebrew

What Ephraim means

Ephraim means “fruitful”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

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

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Ephraim is used in English and German. Its origins include Hebrew.

Ephraim comes through Hebrew אֶפְרַיִם.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Ephraim is pronounced /ˈifɹi.əm/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 8,236 boys were recorded with the name Ephraim between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 260 in 2017; its best national rank was #407 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,005 in 2020 to #988 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #925 in 2015 to #988 in 2025.

How common is Ephraim?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 14,400
231 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 7,390
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#988
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
9,949 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Ephraim 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 5003%

Put another way: gather 9,949 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ephraim. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ephraims were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ephraim was born before 2006 — so the typical Ephraim is around 19 today.

Median birth year
2006
About 19 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
26.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
57.6%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6,994
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 26.5% of all recorded uses (2,182).

Is Ephraim 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
−12
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+17
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−63
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
1.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
88.8%
Peak was 2017 (260)
Years since peak
8
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
6.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#407
1880

Spellings of Ephraim

Ephraim is the most-used spelling, taking 74.5% of the 11,053 babies given a near-identical spelling.

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 Ephraim is used

Across 2016–2025, Ephraim was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 1,389 boys, against 1 in 7,686 across all states with data. It was least common in Kentucky (1 in 50,000).

272 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 1,389
  2. 2Idaho1 in 1,613
  3. 3New Jersey1 in 3,333
  4. 4Pennsylvania1 in 3,571
  5. 5Indiana1 in 4,762
  6. 6New York1 in 4,762
  7. 7Washington1 in 5,556
  8. 8Missouri1 in 5,882

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.

Ephraim around the world

Where Ephraim 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.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,093
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2020–2020
    #392
    in 2020
  • Ireland
    2005–2025
    #509
    in 2025
  • France
    1904–2025
    #1,365
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #916
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1949–2012
    #514
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Ephraim

People whose public names include Ephraim, 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.

Ephraim in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Ephraim. Linked forms have their own page here.

EfremEfraimEfraímEfraínEfraïmÉphrem

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Ephraim by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#988
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 17
Best rank ever
#407
1880
Peak year
2017
260 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
8,236
Count in 2025
231

Names similar to Ephraim

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

ChaimEphriamEfraimWillaimEphremNaimEphramTaimShuraimMizraimSaimZaimHaimEphrainEphesianLaimEphrimEphronAdoraimSaaimDaimEphRaim

Names with a curve like Ephraim

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

LeightonAnsonAndersReyVincenzoFrancoMarcelloValentinMordechaiMerrickYisroelAsa

Sibling names for Ephraim

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 Ephraim

Top names of 2017, Ephraim's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Boys' names starting with E