Ethne

Girls' name

Variant of Eithne

Ethne has been given to 101 babies in the U.S. since 1978. 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 2007, with 13 recorded.

Babies named Ethne, 2017

1 in 596,000

Ethne over time, 1880–2025

Girls

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Ethne: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Eithne

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Ethne means

Ethne is a variant of Eithne.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Ethne is used in Irish Mythology.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Ethne → Eithne → Eithne. The family’s meaning is “grain, kernel”, recorded in Middle Irish with the source elements eithne.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Eithne.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 101 girls were recorded with the name Ethne between 1978 and 2017. Its highest annual count was 13 in 2007; its best national rank was #8,678 in 2003.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Ethne?

Ethne had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2017, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2017: 1 in 596,000; 6 of 3,577,106 births
Among girls only: 1 in 288,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 2017: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 413,245 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Ethne sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2017 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 413,245 children born in 2017 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Ethne. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Ethnes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Ethne was born before 2007 — so the typical Ethne is around 18 today.

Median birth year: 2007; About 18 years old
Biggest decade: 2000s; 69.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 95.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 101; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

2000s — 69.3% of all recorded uses (70).

Is Ethne 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 2007 (13)
Years since peak: 18; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 37.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #8,678; 2003

Spellings of Ethne

Ethne is not the most common spelling — Ethel is, with 95.9% against Ethne's 0.03%.

Ethel95.9%278,922
Ethyl0.82%2,395
Ettie0.64%1,864
Etha0.62%1,802
Elene0.44%1,274
Ether0.42%1,214
Ebone0.41%1,182
Elane0.28%806

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.

Ethne around the world

Where Ethne 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
1999–2014
#5,691
in 2014
Ireland
1965–1970
#447
in 1970
South Australia
1945–2004
#700
in 2004

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Ethne by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #8,678; 2003
Peak year: 2007; 13 that year
First recorded: 1978
Last recorded: 2017
All-time count: 101
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Ethne

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

Ethie Ethal Ethan Ethell Ethna Jahne Ethena Ethleen Ethelle Ethyle Ethereal Ethany Ether Ethelwyn Ethelee Ethlyn Ethelean Ethylene Etherine Ethelda Eithne Ethil Ethny Ethele

Sibling names for Ethne

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

Jailyn Kalli Neveah Marlen Jaylyn Lupita Rhianna Marin

For a brother

Jaeden Nikhil Jamarcus Slade Brandt Nevin Davian Isai

Explore around Ethne

Top names of 2007, Ethne's peak year The 2000s in full Other names that peaked in 2003 Girls' names starting with E