Ezzie
A diminutive form of the English name Esther or Ezekiel, potentially meaning "star" or "God strengthens."
Name Census estimates that about 32 living Americans carry the first name Ezzie. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Ezzie today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ezzie births was 1950 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ezzie. 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 Ezzie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
32
~ 1 in 10,711,073 Americans
Peak year
1950
11 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
1950 SSA rank
#3,442
Tracked since 1898
Census
Ezzie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 136 people with the first name Ezzie, which placed it at #47,733 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
#47,733
National first-name rank
People counted
136
136 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
57.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ezzie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ezzie is Black at 57.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Ezzie 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 Ezzie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American57.4% · 78
- White32.4% · 44
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 2
- Two or more races0.7% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Ezzie
Ezzie leans heavily female at 88.3% of total registrations, but 19 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ezzie as a male name
- Ranked #3,442 in 1950
- 6 male births in 1950
- Peak: 1916 (8 births)
Ezzie as a female name
- Ranked #12,546 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ezzie on both sides of the split. Of the 135 people counted with this name, 69 were male (51.1%) and 66 were female (48.9%).
Popularity
Ezzie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ezzie from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 49 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ezzie 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 Ezzie 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 Ezzie
The given name Ezzie is a diminutive form derived from the Hebrew name Ezekiel, which means "God strengthens" or "God will strengthen." Ezekiel was a biblical prophet whose book is included in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The name Ezekiel has its roots in ancient Hebrew and can be traced back to the 6th century BCE, when the prophet Ezekiel lived and wrote his book.
The name Ezzie itself is believed to have originated as a shortened and affectionate variant of Ezekiel, likely emerging in English-speaking countries during the 19th or early 20th century. While the exact origins of its use are uncertain, the name Ezzie gained popularity as a diminutive form, particularly among families of Jewish descent or those influenced by the biblical tradition.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ezzie can be found in the 1850 United States Federal Census, where a young boy named Ezzie Jones was listed as residing in Tennessee. However, it is important to note that census records from that time period may not always accurately reflect the intended spelling or pronunciation of names.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Ezzie, although it was not as common as its root name, Ezekiel. One such figure was Ezzie Brister (1895-1985), an American baseball player who played for the St. Louis Cardinals in the early 20th century. Another notable bearer of the name was Ezzie Goldish (1924-2012), an American artist and sculptor known for his abstract and figurative works.
In the field of literature, Ezzie Bates was the protagonist of a short story by American author William Faulkner, titled "The Tall Men," published in 1941. Additionally, Ezzie Stovall was a character in the novel "The Hawk is Dying" by Harry Crews, published in 1973.
While the name Ezzie may not have been widely popular throughout history, its connection to the biblical figure Ezekiel and its use as a diminutive form have endowed it with a sense of familiarity and affection. The name has been carried by individuals across various walks of life, from athletes to artists, and has found its way into literary works, contributing to its enduring legacy.
People
Ezzie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ezzie 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
Ezzie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ezzie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ezzie 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 10,711,073 US residents.
Is Ezzie a common name?
We classify Ezzie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 162 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ezzie most popular?
The single biggest year for Ezzie was 1950, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ezzie is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ezzie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 136 people with the name Ezzie, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,733 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 Ezzie 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 Ezzie?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Ezzie on both sides of the split. Of the 135 people counted with this name, 69 were male (51.1%) and 66 were female (48.9%). 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 Ezzie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ezzie is Black at 57.4%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Ezzie most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ezzie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.4% (78 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 Ezzie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ezzie a female name?
Yes, 88.3% of people registered as Ezzie 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 Ezzie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ezzie 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 Ezzie 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 Ezzie as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Ezzie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.