Earma
Of uncertain origin, potentially stemming from Germanic roots meaning "honor" or "truth".
Name Census estimates that about 172 living Americans carry the first name Earma. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Earma today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Earma births was 1938 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Earma. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Earma is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Earmas were born before 1958.
People living today
172
~ 1 in 1,992,758 Americans
Peak year
1938
24 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1966 SSA rank
#6,851
Tracked since 1912
Census
Earma in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 144 people with the first name Earma, which placed it at #46,371 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#46,371
National first-name rank
People counted
144
144 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Earma
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Earma is Black at 87.5%. The next largest groups are White (7.6%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Earma described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Earma at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.5% · 126
- White7.6% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 2
Popularity
Earma: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Earma from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 159 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Earma by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Earma during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Earmas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Earma, while Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Earma
The name Earma is a unique and intriguing one, with its origins shrouded in mystery. It is believed to have originated in ancient Germanic cultures, perhaps as a variation or derivative of the Old Norse name Enarr or Eanarr. These names were thought to be derived from the Proto-Germanic word "ajna," meaning "ancestor" or "forefather."
While there are no definitive historical records or ancient texts that explicitly mention the name Earma, its linguistic roots suggest a connection to the reverence for ancestral lineages and family heritage that was prevalent in many early Germanic societies. The earliest recorded examples of names similar to Earma date back to the 6th century AD, found in various runic inscriptions and manuscript fragments from the region.
One of the earliest known individuals to bear a name resembling Earma was Eormenric, a king of the Ostrogoths who ruled in the late 5th and early 6th centuries AD. Though his name was spelled differently, the similarity in sound and potential shared linguistic origins are noteworthy.
Another figure of historical significance with a name akin to Earma was Earmund, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and ealdorman (earl) who lived in the 9th century AD. He was known for his military prowess and played a pivotal role in the defense of Wessex against Viking invasions.
In the 11th century, a Benedictine monk named Earmingus, or Earming, gained recognition for his scholarly works and contributions to the preservation of religious manuscripts in monasteries across Europe.
During the High Middle Ages, a noblewoman named Earmedrude, or Earma for short, was recorded as a prominent figure in the court of King Henry II of England in the 12th century. Her influence and patronage of the arts and literature left a lasting impact on the cultural landscape of the time.
Finally, in the late 15th century, an Italian humanist scholar and poet named Earmio, or Earmo, gained acclaim for his eloquent works and translations of ancient Greek and Roman texts, helping to shape the intellectual discourse of the Renaissance era.
While the name Earma may have faded from common usage over time, its rich linguistic heritage and the accomplishments of those who bore similar names throughout history serve as a testament to the enduring fascination with this unique moniker.
People
Earma + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Earma as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Earma: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Earma?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 172 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Earma going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,992,758 US residents.
Is Earma a common name?
We classify Earma as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 601 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Earma most popular?
The single biggest year for Earma was 1938, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Earma is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Earma in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 144 people with the name Earma, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #46,371 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Earma in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Earma?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Earma appears almost entirely female. Of the 149 people counted with this name, 99.3% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Earma?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Earma is Black at 87.5%. The next largest groups are White (7.6%) and Hispanic (3.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Earma most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Earma in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.5% (126 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Earma in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Earma a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Earma in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Earma still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Earma in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Earma can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Earma?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.