Edithe
A feminine form of the Old English name Eadgyth, derived from "ead" meaning wealthy or prosperous.
Name Census estimates that about 7 living Americans carry the first name Edithe. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Edithe today is around 100 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Edithe births was 1915 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Edithe. 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 Edithe is about 100 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Edithes were born before 1936.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Edithe. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
7
~ 1 in 48,964,905 Americans
Peak year
1915
25 babies that year
Average age
100
years old
1937 SSA rank
#3,922
Tracked since 1898
Census
Edithe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 132 people with the first name Edithe, which placed it at #48,390 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
#48,390
National first-name rank
People counted
132
132 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Edithe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edithe is Black at 48.5%. The next largest groups are White (43.9%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Edithe 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 Edithe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.5% · 64
- White43.9% · 58
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 4
Popularity
Edithe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Edithe from the 1890s through to the 1930s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 112 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1920s peak, Edithe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Edithe 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 Edithe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Edithe
The name Edithe is derived from the Old English word "ead," meaning "rich" or "prosperous," and the suffix "-ithe" or "-ith," which was a common ending for female names during the Anglo-Saxon period. The name first appeared in England around the 7th or 8th century AD, during the time of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Edithe can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and taxation in England completed in 1086 under the orders of William the Conqueror. The name is mentioned as belonging to a landowner in the county of Worcestershire.
In the 12th century, Edithe of Wilton (born around 1090) was an English nun and writer who is known for her literary works, including a life of St. Edward the Confessor. She lived and worked at the Abbey of Wilton in Wiltshire, which was an important center of learning and literature during the Middle Ages.
In the 13th century, Edithe of Cambridge (born around 1205) was an English philosopher and logician who studied and taught at the University of Cambridge. She is notable for her contributions to the study of logic and her commentary on the works of Aristotle.
During the 14th century, Edithe Plantagenet (1363-1389) was a member of the English royal family and the daughter of Edward the Black Prince. She was briefly considered as a potential heir to the English throne but died at a young age.
In the 16th century, Edithe Cavell (1528-1605) was an English herbalist and writer who published a popular book called "The English Huswife" in 1586, which included recipes, household advice, and information on medicinal herbs.
Overall, the name Edithe has a long and rich history, with its roots dating back to the Anglo-Saxon period in England. While the name has fallen out of widespread use in modern times, it remains an interesting and evocative name with connections to various notable figures throughout English history.
People
Edithe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Edithe 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
Edithe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Edithe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Edithe 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 48,964,905 US residents.
Is Edithe a common name?
We classify Edithe as "Very Rare". It ranks above 23.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 270 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Edithe most popular?
The single biggest year for Edithe was 1915, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Edithe is about 100 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Edithe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 132 people with the name Edithe, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,390 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 Edithe 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 Edithe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Edithe appears almost entirely female. Of the 131 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Edithe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edithe is Black at 48.5%. The next largest groups are White (43.9%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Edithe most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Edithe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.5% (64 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 Edithe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Edithe a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Edithe 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 Edithe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Edithe 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 Edithe 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 Edithe?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Edithe on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.