Edwidge
A feminine name of French origin referring to a prosperous battle strategy.
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Edwidge. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Edwidge today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Edwidge births was 1915 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Edwidge. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Edwidge. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
1915
6 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
1992 SSA rank
#3,912
Tracked since 1915
Census
Edwidge in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 214 people with the first name Edwidge, which placed it at #36,840 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
#36,840
National first-name rank
People counted
214
214 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
92.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Edwidge
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edwidge is Black at 92.5%. The next largest groups are White (5.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Edwidge 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 Edwidge at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American92.5% · 198
- White5.1% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 2
- Two or more races0.9% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Edwidge
Edwidge is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 11 total registrations, 5 (45.5%) were male and 6 (54.5%) were female.
Edwidge as a male name
- Ranked #8,821 in 1992
- 5 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1992 (5 births)
Edwidge as a female name
- Ranked #3,912 in 1915
- 6 female births in 1915
- Peak: 1915 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Edwidge on both sides of the split. Of the 216 people counted with this name, 80 were male (37.0%) and 136 were female (63.0%).
Popularity
Edwidge: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Edwidge from the 1910s through to the 1990s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 6 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Edwidge 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 Edwidge 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 Edwidge
The name Edwidge is of French origin and has its roots in the Germanic languages. It is a feminine form of the male name Edwin, which is derived from the Old English words "ead" meaning "rich" or "blessed" and "wine" meaning "friend."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Edwidge can be found in the 12th century French epic poem "The Song of Roland." In the poem, Edwidge is mentioned as the wife of a Frankish knight. This suggests that the name was in use among the French nobility during the Middle Ages.
In the 13th century, there was a renowned French abbess named Edwidge de Chaumont who ruled over the Benedictine Abbey of Notre-Dame de Soissons. She is known for her piety and her efforts to reform the monastic life within her abbey.
Another notable figure with the name Edwidge was Edwidge Feuillère (1907-1998), a French actress who had a successful career in both theater and film. She is particularly remembered for her roles in the films "Le Corbeau" (1943) and "Les Enfants du Paradis" (1945).
In the realm of literature, the name Edwidge is closely associated with the Haitian-American writer Edwidge Danticat (born 1969). She is the author of several acclaimed novels and short story collections, including "Breath, Eyes, Memory" and "The Farming of Bones." Her works often explore themes of identity, diaspora, and the Haitian experience.
Another prominent figure with the name Edwidge was Edwidge Fenech Adami (1938-2012), a Maltese politician who served as the President of Malta from 1982 to 1987. She was the first woman to hold the position and was widely respected for her dedication to social issues and women's rights.
While the name Edwidge is not as common as some other names, it has a rich history and has been borne by influential figures across various fields, from literature and politics to religion and the arts.
People
Edwidge + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Edwidge 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
Edwidge: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Edwidge?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Edwidge 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Edwidge a common name?
We classify Edwidge as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 11 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Edwidge most popular?
The single biggest year for Edwidge was 1915, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Edwidge is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Edwidge in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 214 people with the name Edwidge, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,840 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 Edwidge 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 Edwidge?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Edwidge on both sides of the split. Of the 216 people counted with this name, 80 were male (37.0%) and 136 were female (63.0%). 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 Edwidge?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edwidge is Black at 92.5%. The next largest groups are White (5.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (0.9%). 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 Edwidge most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Edwidge in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.5% (198 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 Edwidge in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Edwidge a female name?
Yes, 54.5% of people registered as Edwidge 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 Edwidge still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Edwidge 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 Edwidge 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 Edwidge as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Edwidge, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.