Eartha
A feminine name derived from the English word "earth".
Name Census estimates that about 1,338 living Americans carry the first name Eartha. It is a predominantly female name (98.9% of registrations). The average person named Eartha today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eartha births was 1955 (108 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eartha. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Eartha with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Eartha is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Earthas were born before 1967.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 256,169 Americans
Peak year
1955
108 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1953 SSA rank
#3,965
Tracked since 1905
Census
Eartha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,531 people with the first name Eartha, which placed it at #9,194 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
#9,194
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,531 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eartha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eartha is Black at 90.3%. The next largest groups are White (4.4%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Eartha 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 Eartha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.3% · 1,382
- White4.4% · 68
- Two or more races2.5% · 38
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Eartha
Eartha leans heavily female at 98.9% of total registrations, but 32 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Eartha as a male name
- Ranked #3,965 in 1953
- 5 male births in 1953
- Peak: 1925 (6 births)
Eartha as a female name
- Ranked #15,761 in 2020
- 5 female births in 2020
- Peak: 1955 (108 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eartha leans strongly female. 1,514 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 29 male bearers (1.9%).
Popularity
Eartha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eartha from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 749 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Eartha 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 Eartha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Earthas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. South Carolina, Florida, Alabama recorded the most babies named Eartha, while Delaware, Pennsylvania, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 101 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eartha
The given name Eartha is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "eorthe," which means "earth" or "ground." This name likely emerged in the medieval period as a reference to the planet Earth or as a symbolic name representing the natural world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Eartha is found in the 16th century, when it was used as a variant spelling of the more common name "Earth." In the 1500s, a woman named Eartha Swinbourne was recorded in parish records in Worcestershire, England.
The name Eartha gained widespread recognition in the 20th century, primarily due to the American singer and actress Eartha Kitt. Born in 1927 in South Carolina, Eartha Kitt became an iconic figure in the entertainment industry, known for her distinctive vocals and roles in films such as "Anna Lucasta" and the TV series "Batman."
Another notable figure with the name Eartha was Eartha M.M. White, an American educator and civil rights activist born in 1876 in Mississippi. She was a prominent figure in the fight for racial equality and the founder of the Community Relations Council in Jacksonville, Florida.
In the literary world, Eartha M. Vaughn was an American author and educator born in 1906 in Texas. She wrote several books, including "The Sinner and the Saint" and "The Tall House in the Garden."
The name Eartha has also been used by other public figures throughout history, such as Eartha Lawton, an American opera singer born in 1947, and Eartha Pearson, a Canadian sprinter and hurdler who competed in the 1960s and 1970s.
While the name Eartha has seen some usage over the centuries, it has remained relatively uncommon compared to more traditional names. Its unique and earthly connotations, however, have made it a distinctive choice for those seeking a name that connects with the natural world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Eartha
People
Eartha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eartha 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
Eartha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eartha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,338 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eartha 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 256,169 US residents.
Is Eartha a common name?
We classify Eartha as "Rare". It ranks above 91.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,952 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eartha most popular?
The single biggest year for Eartha was 1955, when 108 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eartha is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eartha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,531 people with the name Eartha, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,194 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 Eartha 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 Eartha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eartha leans strongly female. 1,514 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 29 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Eartha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eartha is Black at 90.3%. The next largest groups are White (4.4%) and Two or More Races (2.5%). 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 Eartha most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Eartha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.3% (1,382 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 Eartha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eartha a female name?
Yes, 98.9% of people registered as Eartha 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 Eartha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eartha 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 Eartha 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 Eartha as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Eartha, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.