Edmund
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "rich protector".
Name Census estimates that about 21,937 living Americans carry the first name Edmund. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Edmund today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Edmund births was 1923 (1,145 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Edmund. 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 Edmund with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Edmund is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 60 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
22K
~ 1 in 15,624 Americans
Peak year
1923
1,145 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,182
Tracked since 1880
Census
Edmund in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 23,544 people with the first name Edmund, which placed it at #1,440 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
#1,440
National first-name rank
People counted
24K
23,544 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Edmund
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edmund is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Edmund 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 Edmund at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.9% · 17,157
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.9% · 2,098
- Black or African American8.8% · 2,074
- Hispanic or Latino6.4% · 1,513
- Two or more races2.3% · 540
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 162
Gender
Gender distribution for Edmund
Out of the 51,943 babies given the name Edmund since 1880, 99.9% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Edmund as a male name
- Ranked #1,182 in 2024
- 175 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1923 (1,145 births)
Edmund as a female name
- Ranked #10,633 in 1979
- 5 female births in 1979
- Peak: 1924 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Edmund appears almost entirely male. Of the 23,553 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Edmund: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Edmund from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 10,240 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
Edmund 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 Edmund during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Edmunds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Edmund, while Idaho, Delaware, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 907 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Edmund
The name Edmund has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon era, derived from the Old English words "ead" meaning prosperity or fortune, and "mund" meaning protection. It was a popular name among the Anglo-Saxons and was borne by several English kings and nobles.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Edmund the Martyr, an East Anglian king who reigned from 855 to 869 AD. He was killed by Danish invaders and later became venerated as a saint in the Christian church.
Another notable figure with the name was Edmund Ironside, who was King of England from 1016 to 1017 AD. He fought against the Danish invasion led by Canute the Great, but was eventually forced to divide the kingdom with him.
In the 13th century, Edmund Rich, also known as St. Edmund of Abingdon, was a prominent figure in the Catholic Church. He served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1234 to 1240 and was canonized in 1246.
The name gained further prominence with Edmund Spenser, the English poet and author of the epic poem "The Faerie Queene". He lived from around 1552 to 1599 and is considered one of the greatest poets of the English Renaissance.
In more recent history, Edmund Halley, the English astronomer, mathematician, and physicist, is renowned for his work on the orbit of the comet that bears his name, Halley's Comet. He lived from 1656 to 1742 and made significant contributions to the scientific understanding of the universe.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Edmund, reflecting its enduring popularity and significance across various cultures and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Edmund
People
Edmund + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Edmund 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
Edmund: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Edmund?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21,937 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Edmund 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 15,624 US residents.
Is Edmund a common name?
We classify Edmund as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51,943 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Edmund most popular?
The single biggest year for Edmund was 1923, when 1,145 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Edmund is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Edmund in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 23,544 people with the name Edmund, or 7.80 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,440 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 Edmund 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 Edmund?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Edmund appears almost entirely male. Of the 23,553 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Edmund?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edmund is White at 72.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.9%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Edmund most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Edmund in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.9% (17,157 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 Edmund in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Edmund a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Edmund 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 Edmund still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Edmund 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 Edmund 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 are called Edmund?
You can see how many people have the name Edmund on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.