Edison
A masculine name derived from the Old English elements "Ead" (rich) and "wine" (friend).
Name Census estimates that about 9,966 living Americans carry the first name Edison. It is a predominantly male name (98.3% of registrations). The average person named Edison today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Edison births was 2018 (554 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Edison. 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
- • Although Edison is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 216 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
10.0K
~ 1 in 34,392 Americans
Peak year
2018
554 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#827
Tracked since 1891
Gender
Gender distribution for Edison
Edison leans heavily male at 98.3% of total registrations, but 216 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Edison as a male name
- Ranked #827 in 2024
- 300 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (522 births)
Edison as a female name
- Ranked #10,473 in 2024
- 9 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (32 births)
Popularity
Edison: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Edison from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 4,068 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Edison remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Edison 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 Edison during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Edisons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Edison, while Idaho, Mississippi, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 192 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Edison
The name Edison is an English surname that has been adopted as a masculine given name. It originated as an English patronymic surname derived from the given name Edisson, which was a medieval English form of the name Adam. The name Adam ultimately derives from the Hebrew word for "man" or "earth".
The name Edison first emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 12th or 13th century, as a variant spelling of the name Adam. It was likely influenced by the similar-sounding Old English name Æddisc, meaning "wealthy" or "prosperous". Over time, the name evolved into various spellings such as Edisoune, Edisson, and eventually Edison.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Edison can be found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which documented landowners in England. The rolls mention an individual named Edissone de Haleburn, indicating the name's use as a surname during that period.
While there are no known historical figures named Edison from ancient times or religious texts, the name gained significant recognition in the 19th and 20th centuries due to the renowned American inventor Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931). Edison was a prolific inventor whose contributions include the practical incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera.
Another notable individual named Edison was the British actor and filmmaker Edison Marshall (1894-1967), who directed several films in the 1920s and 1930s.
In the world of sports, Edison Arantes do Nascimento (1940-2022), better known as Pelé, was a legendary Brazilian footballer widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time.
The name Edison has also been used in literature, with the character Edison Carter appearing in the cyberpunk novel and television series "Max Headroom" by Spike Jonze and Michael Gottlieb.
Additionally, the American composer and lyricist Edison Ray Luthy (1933-2009) made significant contributions to musical theater, including collaborations with Carol Hall and John Denver.
People
Edison + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Edison 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
Edison: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Edison?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9,966 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Edison 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 34,392 US residents.
Is Edison a common name?
We classify Edison as "Rare". It ranks above 97.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,460 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Edison most popular?
The single biggest year for Edison was 2018, when 554 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Edison is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Edison a male name?
Yes, 98.3% of people registered as Edison 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.
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.