Efrem
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "fruitful, productive".
Name Census estimates that about 1,425 living Americans carry the first name Efrem. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Efrem today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Efrem births was 1959 (85 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Efrem. 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 Efrem with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 240,529 Americans
Peak year
1959
85 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,354
Tracked since 1926
Census
Efrem in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,469 people with the first name Efrem, which placed it at #9,443 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
#9,443
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,469 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Efrem
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Efrem is Black at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.4%) and White (14.0%). 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 Efrem 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 Efrem at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.5% · 962
- Hispanic or Latino15.4% · 226
- White14.0% · 206
- Two or more races2.5% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 33
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 6
Popularity
Efrem: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Efrem from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 612 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Efrem 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 Efrem during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Efrems live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Efrem, while Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Efrem
The name Efrem has its origins in the Greek language and culture. It is derived from the Greek name Ephraim, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Ephrayim. The name Ephrayim can be traced back to the biblical figure of the same name, who was one of the sons of Joseph and a progenitor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The name Efrem is a variant spelling of the Greek name Ephraim, which was widely used in the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition. It was a popular name among early Christian saints and scholars, including Saint Ephrem the Syrian (306-373 AD), a prominent theologian and hymnographer of the Syriac Christian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Efrem can be found in the writings of the 4th-century Christian scholar and monk, Ephrem the Syrian. He was a prolific writer and is considered one of the most important figures in the development of Syriac literature and theology.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Efrem. One of the most famous was Ephraim Amu (1899-1995), a Ghanaian composer, philosopher, and teacher, who is considered the founder of modern Ghanaian choral music.
Another notable figure was Ephraim Isakhovitch Sklyansky (1892-1925), a Soviet revolutionary and political leader who played a significant role in the Russian Civil War and the early years of the Soviet Union.
In the field of literature, Efrem Zimbalist (1889-1985) was a prominent Russian-American violinist and composer who made significant contributions to the development of American classical music.
The Byzantine scholar and theologian Ephraim of Antioch (7th century AD) was another influential figure who bore the name Efrem. He was a prominent defender of the Orthodox Christian faith during a time of theological disputes and controversies.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who carried the name Efrem or a variant spelling. The name has a rich cultural and historical significance, particularly within the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition and in various regions where Greek and Syriac cultural influences were strong.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Efrem
People
Efrem + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Efrem 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
Efrem: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Efrem?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,425 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Efrem 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 240,529 US residents.
Is Efrem a common name?
We classify Efrem as "Rare". It ranks above 92.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,578 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Efrem most popular?
The single biggest year for Efrem was 1959, when 85 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Efrem is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Efrem in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,469 people with the name Efrem, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,443 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 Efrem 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 Efrem?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Efrem appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,468 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Efrem?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Efrem is Black at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (15.4%) and White (14.0%). 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 Efrem most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Efrem in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (962 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 Efrem in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Efrem a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Efrem 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 Efrem still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Efrem 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 Efrem 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 Americans are named Efrem?
See how many Americans are named Efrem on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.