Ethelbert

Boys' name

Noble + bright

Ethelbert has been given to 183 babies in the U.S. since 1887. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1916, with 14 recorded.

Babies named Ethelbert, 1975

1 in 604,000

Ethelbert over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ethelbert: meaning, origin, and history

Noble + bright

Old English

What Ethelbert means

Ethelbert means “noble + bright”, associated with æþele and beorht.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Revived from Old English Æþelbeorht, from Proto-West Germanic *Aþalaberht. Compound of Old English æþele (“noble”) + beorht (“bright”). Doublet of Albert.

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Ethelbert is used in English. Its origins include Old English.

Ethelbert comes through Old English Æþelbeorht and Proto-West Germanic *Aþalaberht.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Albert.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 178 boys were recorded with the name Ethelbert between 1887 and 1975. Its highest annual count was 14 in 1916; its best national rank was #853 in 1887.

In the United States, 5 girls were recorded with the name Ethelbert between 1927 and 1927. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1927; its best national rank was #5,039 in 1927.

How common is Ethelbert?

Ethelbert had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1975, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1975: 1 in 604,000; 5 of 3,019,126 births
Among boys only: 1 in 312,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1975: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 418,541 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Ethelbert 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 1975 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 418,541 children born in 1975 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ethelbert. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ethelberts were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ethelbert was born before 1922 — so the typical Ethelbert is around 103 today.

Median birth year: 1922; About 103 years old
Biggest decade: 1920s; 38.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 2.8%; Mostly a past generation
Recorded since 1950: 5; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1920s — 38.2% of all recorded uses (68).

Is Ethelbert 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1916 (14)
Years since peak: 109; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 39.9% average annual change
Best rank ever: #853; 1887

Spellings of Ethelbert

Ethelbert is not the most common spelling — Thelbert is, with 83.9% against Ethelbert's 16.1%.

Thelbert83.9%931
Ethelbert16.1%178

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 Ethelbert is used

Across 1910–2025, Ethelbert was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,664,768 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

State popularity map

Most concentrated

1New York1 in —

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. Ethelbert has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Ethelbert by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #853; 1887
Peak year: 1916; 14 that year
First recorded: 1887
Last recorded: 1975
All-time count: 178
Count in 2025: Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #5,039; 1927
Peak year: 1927; 5 that year
First recorded: 1927
Last recorded: 1927
All-time count: 5
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Ethelbert

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

Etheridge Ethanjames Ethridge Ethaniel Ethanael Engelbert Johnrobert Cuthbert Ethanjacob Ethanjohn Adalbert Holbert Taggert Etham Hulbert Calbert Ethanial Hubbert Harbert Dalbert Ethanpaul Ethon Ethann Milbert

Sibling names for Ethelbert

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

For a sister

Leatha Leone Artie Alpha Hettie Cecil Ona Albina

For a brother

Winfield Dorsey Isadore Aloysius Hyman Regis Sydney Meyer

Explore around Ethelbert

Top names of 1916, Ethelbert's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1887 Boys' names starting with E Old English Boy Names