Edna
Edna was the 2463rd most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 72 babies. Its best year was 1899, when it ranked 11th; the most babies were born in 1918 (8,698). Over the last ten years it has moved down 163 places. More babies were named Edna in the 1920s than in any other decade.
Meaning pleasure, delight (Hebrew) · Hebrew
Say it ED-nuh /ˈɛdnə/
- Rank in 2025
- #2,463 girls, down 378 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 72girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 19188,698 babies
- Total since 1880
- 296,158babies recorded
What does the name Edna mean?
Edna is, as Wiktionary notes, from Hebrew ʿednah 'pleasure, delight', related to Eden, and appears in the apocryphal Book of Tobit as the wife of Raguel. In Ireland and Scotland it has also been used to anglicize the Gaelic name Eithne. It was very common in the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay is a famous bearer.
עֶדְנָה (ʿednah) (Hebrew, “pleasure, delight”)
How sure is this? Probable. The Book of Tobit survives mainly in Greek; the Hebrew form is reconstructed from it.
Related names: Eden, Eithne, Adena.
See also: Hebrew names, names that mean joy.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Edna', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
Edna popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 1,042 since 1881.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #2,463 | 72 |
| 2020 | #2,085 | 88 |
| 2010 | #1,964 | 102 |
| 2000 | #1,460 | 126 |
| 1990 | #927 | 206 |
| 1980 | #643 | 284 |
| 1970 | #466 | 448 |
| 1960 | #271 | 1,105 |
| 1950 | #157 | 1,853 |
| 1940 | #86 | 2,835 |
| 1930 | #51 | 4,762 |
| 1920 | #27 | 8,331 |
| 1910 | #18 | 3,664 |
| 1900 | #12 | 3,102 |
| 1890 | #18 | 1,973 |
| 1880 | #45 | 588 |
How popular is Edna, counting every spelling?
Edna has no other common spelling that sounds the same.
How many kids will share the name Edna?
72 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Edna (0.02 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Edna born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 116 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Edna.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Edna?
About 50,300 people born in the US named Edna are alive today, with a median age of 74; half are between 62 and 83. That makes Edna a name most people associate with older generations.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Edna by state
How common Edna was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in Ohio (3.3×), Pennsylvania (1.6×). In 35 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Edna: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Edna, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Edna · Sibling names for Edna
Questions about the name Edna
What does Edna mean?
Edna means “pleasure, delight (Hebrew)” (Hebrew origin). Certainty: probable.
How popular is the name Edna?
Edna was the 2463rd most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 72 babies. Its best year was 1899, when it ranked 11th; the most babies were born in 1918 (8,698). Over the last ten years it has moved down 163 places. More babies were named Edna in the 1920s than in any other decade.
Is Edna a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Edna in the US.
Where is Edna most popular?
In 2021–2025, Edna was most common in Ohio (0.18 per 1,000 girls), followed by Kentucky and Iowa.