Eddy
Diminutive form of the name Edward, meaning "prosperous guardian".
Name Census estimates that about 11,308 living Americans carry the first name Eddy. It is a predominantly male name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Eddy today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Eddy births was 1956 (253 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Eddy. 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 Eddy with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Eddy is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 385 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,311 Americans
Peak year
1956
253 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,528
Tracked since 1884
Census
Eddy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,685 people with the first name Eddy, which placed it at #1,725 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
#1,725
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
17,685 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
55.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Eddy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eddy is Hispanic at 55.9%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Black (10.9%). 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 Eddy 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 Eddy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino55.9% · 9,890
- White24.8% · 4,387
- Black or African American10.9% · 1,932
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 1,125
- Two or more races1.4% · 255
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 96
Gender
Gender distribution for Eddy
Eddy leans heavily male at 97.3% of total registrations, but 385 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Eddy as a male name
- Ranked #1,528 in 2024
- 115 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1956 (246 births)
Eddy as a female name
- Ranked #13,907 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1946 (14 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eddy leans strongly male. 16,881 people counted with this name were male (95.4%), compared with 806 female bearers (4.6%).
Popularity
Eddy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Eddy from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 2,245 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
Eddy 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 Eddy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Eddys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 38 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Eddy, while Utah, Nebraska, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 234 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Eddy
The name Eddy has its origins in the English language, derived from the Old English name Eadwig, which itself is composed of the elements "ead" meaning "prosperity" and "wig" meaning "war." It is believed to have first emerged as a given name in the 7th or 8th century AD, during the Anglo-Saxon period in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Eddy can be found in the Domesday Book, a record of landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this text, an individual named Eddric is mentioned as holding land in Oxfordshire.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Eddy was primarily used among the English nobility and upper classes. One notable figure from this period was Eddy of Westminister, an English monk and historian who lived in the late 12th century and authored a chronicle of English history.
During the Renaissance, the name gained popularity across Europe, particularly in its various forms such as Eduard, Eduardo, and Édouard. One famous bearer of the name from this era was the French Renaissance philosopher and writer, Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592).
In the 18th century, the name Eddy was borne by several notable figures, including the English poet and playwright, Eddy Young (1683-1765), and the American philosopher and Founding Father, Eddy Rutledge (1749-1800).
As the name spread across the Atlantic, it became particularly popular in the United States during the 19th century. One of the most famous Americans with the name was Eddy Rickenbacker (1890-1973), a World War I fighter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient.
Other notable individuals named Eddy throughout history include the Dutch painter, Eddy van Gogh (1853-1890), the English mathematician and computer scientist, Eddy Turing (1912-1954), and the American jazz musician, Eddy Calvert (1909-1964).
While the spelling and pronunciation of the name have evolved over time, Eddy has remained a popular and enduring name, firmly rooted in its Anglo-Saxon origins and associated with a rich history spanning over a millennium.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Eddy
People
Eddy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Eddy 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
Eddy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Eddy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,308 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Eddy 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 30,311 US residents.
Is Eddy a common name?
We classify Eddy as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,318 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Eddy most popular?
The single biggest year for Eddy was 1956, when 253 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Eddy is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Eddy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,685 people with the name Eddy, or 5.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,725 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 Eddy 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 Eddy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Eddy leans strongly male. 16,881 people counted with this name were male (95.4%), compared with 806 female bearers (4.6%). 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 Eddy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Eddy is Hispanic at 55.9%. The next largest groups are White (24.8%) and Black (10.9%). 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 Eddy most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Eddy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.9% (9,890 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 Eddy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Eddy a male name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Eddy in the SSA data are male. 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 Eddy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Eddy 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 Eddy 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 Americans are named Eddy?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.