Easter
A given name derived from the Christian holiday celebrating Christ's resurrection.
Name Census estimates that about 1,383 living Americans carry the first name Easter. It is a predominantly female name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Easter today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Easter births was 1925 (133 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Easter. 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 Easter with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Easter is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 66 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Easter is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Easters were born before 1969.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 247,834 Americans
Peak year
1925
133 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1936 SSA rank
#3,692
Tracked since 1880
Census
Easter in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,742 people with the first name Easter, which placed it at #8,349 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
#8,349
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,742 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
54.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Easter
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Easter is Black at 54.9%. The next largest groups are White (25.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.4%). 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 Easter 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 Easter at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American54.9% · 957
- White25.7% · 448
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.4% · 198
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 74
- Two or more races3.2% · 55
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Easter
Easter leans heavily female at 98.8% of total registrations, but 66 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Easter as a male name
- Ranked #3,692 in 1936
- 5 male births in 1936
- Peak: 1928 (7 births)
Easter as a female name
- Ranked #16,536 in 2017
- 5 female births in 2017
- Peak: 1925 (133 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Easter leans strongly female. 1,684 people counted with this name were female (96.5%), compared with 61 male bearers (3.5%).
Popularity
Easter: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Easter from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 1,176 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Easter 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 Easter during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Easters live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia recorded the most babies named Easter, while Ohio, Missouri, Oklahoma recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 175 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Easter
The given name Easter has its origins in the Christian religion and is derived from the English word "Easter," which itself comes from the Old English term "Ēastrun" or "Ēastran." This term is believed to have been derived from the Germanic goddess of fertility and spring, Eostre or Ostara. The name is closely tied to the Christian celebration of Easter, which commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and is often associated with themes of rebirth and renewal.
One of the earliest known references to the name Easter can be found in the writings of the Venerable Bede, an English monk who lived in the late 7th and early 8th centuries. In his work "De Temporum Ratione" (On the Reckoning of Time), Bede mentions the pagan festival of Eostre, which was celebrated in the spring and may have influenced the timing and traditions of the Christian Easter celebration.
Throughout history, the name Easter has been relatively uncommon as a given name, perhaps due to its strong religious connotations. However, there have been a few notable individuals who have borne this name:
1. Easter Heywood (1628-1692), an English writer and playwright known for her works on gender equality and women's rights.
2. Easter Ann Ellison (1828-1906), an American teacher and pioneer who established one of the first schools in the Oregon Territory.
3. Easter Grenville (1864-1944), a British socialite and author who wrote several novels and memoirs.
4. Easter Armas Ellsworth Brown (1876-1975), an American artist and illustrator known for her portraits and landscapes.
5. Easter Virginia Quintana (1911-1995), a Native American activist and educator who advocated for the rights of the Acoma Pueblo people in New Mexico.
While the name Easter may not be as common as other given names, it carries a rich historical and cultural significance rooted in the Christian tradition and the celebration of renewal and rebirth.
People
Easter + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Easter 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
Easter: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Easter?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,383 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Easter 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 247,834 US residents.
Is Easter a common name?
We classify Easter as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,579 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Easter most popular?
The single biggest year for Easter was 1925, when 133 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Easter is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Easter in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,742 people with the name Easter, or 0.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,349 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 Easter 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 Easter?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Easter leans strongly female. 1,684 people counted with this name were female (96.5%), compared with 61 male bearers (3.5%). 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 Easter?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Easter is Black at 54.9%. The next largest groups are White (25.7%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (11.4%). 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 Easter most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Easter in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.9% (957 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 Easter in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Easter a female name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Easter 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 Easter still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Easter 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 Easter 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 share the name Easter?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.