Etheleen
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly derived from Ethel.
Name Census estimates that about 95 living Americans carry the first name Etheleen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Etheleen today is around 81 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Etheleen births was 1925 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Etheleen. 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 Etheleen is about 81 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Etheleens were born before 1955.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Etheleen. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
95
~ 1 in 3,607,940 Americans
Peak year
1925
29 babies that year
Average age
81
years old
1959 SSA rank
#6,544
Tracked since 1909
Census
Etheleen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 150 people with the first name Etheleen, which placed it at #45,340 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
#45,340
National first-name rank
People counted
150
150 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Etheleen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Etheleen is White at 52.7%. The next largest groups are Black (37.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (6.0%). 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 Etheleen 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 Etheleen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.7% · 79
- Black or African American37.3% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native6.0% · 9
- Two or more races3.3% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
Popularity
Etheleen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Etheleen from the 1900s through to the 1950s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 199 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
Etheleen 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 Etheleen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Etheleens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina recorded the most babies named Etheleen, while South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Etheleen
The given name Etheleen is an English variant of the feminine name Ethelind, which itself is derived from the Old English words "æðele" meaning "noble" and "lind" meaning "gentle, tender, or soft." This name has its origins in Anglo-Saxon England during the early medieval period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
While the name Etheleen is not found in any ancient texts or religious scriptures, its root name Ethelind was relatively common among the nobility and aristocracy of Anglo-Saxon England. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ethelind can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which mentions an Ethelind who was the daughter of King Cenred of Mercia in the 7th century.
Throughout the Middle Ages, various spellings of the name Ethelind, such as Æthelind, Æthelinde, and Ethelinda, were used by noble families across England. Notable historical figures who bore this name include Ethelind, the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia, who lived in the 7th century, and Ethelind, the wife of King Æthelred of Northumbria, who lived in the 8th century.
As the English language evolved, the name Ethelind gradually transformed into various other spellings, including Etheleen. One of the earliest recorded instances of this particular spelling can be found in the parish records of St. Mary's Church in Whitby, Yorkshire, where an Etheleen Harrington was recorded as having been baptized in 1623.
Some other notable historical figures who bore the name Etheleen include Etheleen Crandall (1835-1920), an American educator and suffragist, Etheleen Whitmire (1890-1973), an American artist and ceramist, and Etheleen Garwood (1900-1985), an American philanthropist and socialite.
It is worth noting that while the name Etheleen has its roots in Anglo-Saxon England, it has since been adopted and used in various parts of the English-speaking world, particularly in the United States and other countries with historical ties to Britain.
People
Etheleen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Etheleen 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
Etheleen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Etheleen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 95 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Etheleen 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 3,607,940 US residents.
Is Etheleen a common name?
We classify Etheleen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 63.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 584 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Etheleen most popular?
The single biggest year for Etheleen was 1925, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Etheleen is about 81 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Etheleen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 150 people with the name Etheleen, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,340 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 Etheleen 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 Etheleen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Etheleen leans strongly female. 154 people counted with this name were female (98.7%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.3%). 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 Etheleen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Etheleen is White at 52.7%. The next largest groups are Black (37.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (6.0%). 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 Etheleen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Etheleen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.7% (79 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 Etheleen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Etheleen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Etheleen 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 Etheleen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Etheleen 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 Etheleen 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 named Etheleen?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.