Edyth
Rich and prosperous, a name of Old English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 432 living Americans carry the first name Edyth. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Edyth today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Edyth births was 1918 (76 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Edyth. 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 Edyth with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
432
~ 1 in 793,413 Americans
Peak year
1918
76 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,596
Tracked since 1880
Census
Edyth in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 689 people with the first name Edyth, which placed it at #16,394 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
#16,394
National first-name rank
People counted
689
689 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Edyth
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edyth is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.3%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Edyth 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 Edyth at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.1% · 469
- Hispanic or Latino18.3% · 126
- Black or African American9.6% · 66
- Two or more races2.6% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Edyth: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Edyth from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 540 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
Edyth 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 Edyth during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Edyths live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. New York, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Edyth, while Wisconsin, Washington, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Edyth
The name Edyth is an English variant of the Germanic name Edith, which is derived from the Old English words "ead" meaning "prosperous" or "blessed" and "gyth" meaning "war" or "battle." It can be interpreted to mean "prosperous in war" or "blessed in battle."
The name Edith has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period, and it was a popular name among the English aristocracy during the Middle Ages. One of the earliest documented examples of the name can be found in the Domesday Book, a detailed survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
In the late 12th century, the name gained popularity due to its association with St. Edith of Wilton, a Saxon princess who lived in the 10th century and was known for her piety and charitable works. Her life was chronicled in several medieval manuscripts, and her cult following helped spread the name throughout England.
Edith was also the name of several prominent historical figures, including Edith of Wessex (c. 961-1015), the wife of King Edward the Confessor, and Edith Plantagenet (1025-1075), the wife of King Henry I of England. These royal associations further contributed to the name's prestige and widespread use.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the spelling variant "Edyth" can be found in the writings of Geoffrey Chaucer, the famous 14th-century English poet and author. In his work "The Canterbury Tales," Chaucer mentions a character named "Edyth the wife of Bathe."
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Edyth or Edith, including:
1. Edith Stein (1891-1942), a German-Jewish philosopher and Catholic convert who became a Carmelite nun and was canonized as a martyr and saint.
2. Edyth Bullock (1865-1928), an American painter and educator known for her portraits and landscapes.
3. Edith Wharton (1862-1937), a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer, known for works like "The Age of Innocence" and "Ethan Frome."
4. Edyth Muñoz (1924-2015), a renowned Cuban-American artist and painter, known for her vibrant and colorful works depicting scenes from her native Cuba.
5. Edith Roosevelt (1861-1948), the wife of President Theodore Roosevelt and a prominent figure in her own right, advocating for various social causes and serving as the first First Lady to employ a full-time social secretary.
While the name Edyth is not as commonly used today as it once was, it remains a beautiful and historically significant name with deep roots in English and Germanic culture.
People
Edyth + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Edyth 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
Edyth: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Edyth?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 432 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Edyth 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 793,413 US residents.
Is Edyth a common name?
We classify Edyth as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,278 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Edyth most popular?
The single biggest year for Edyth was 1918, when 76 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Edyth 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 Edyth in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 689 people with the name Edyth, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,394 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 Edyth 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 Edyth?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Edyth appears almost entirely female. Of the 697 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 Edyth?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Edyth is White at 68.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.3%) and Black (9.6%). 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 Edyth most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Edyth in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.1% (469 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 Edyth in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Edyth a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Edyth 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 Edyth still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Edyth 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 Edyth 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 share the name Edyth?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.