Ethel
About Ethel
The name Ethel peaked for girls at #6 in 1896. The name is most popular in New York, New York, and Texas. Ethel is occasionally used for boys in 1968.
2 syllables.
As of September 2026, Ethel ranked #4211 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #6 in 1896, Nameberry popularity #978.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2015 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | #4,851 | 28 | 16.2 |
| 2018 | #4,387 | 32 | 18.8 |
| 2019 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | #4,930 | 26 | 16.1 |
| 2021 | #4,878 | 27 | 16.5 |
| 2022 | #4,832 | 28 | 17.1 |
| 2023 | — | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | #4,915 | 27 | 16.7 |
| 2025 | #4,211 | 34 | 21.2 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Ethel.
Famous Ethels
- Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe)
American actress
- Ethel Clayton
American silent film actress
- Ethel May Dell
English romance novelist
- Ethel Carow Roosevelt Derby
daughter of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt
- Ethel Merman (born Ethel Agnes Zimmerman)
American singer and actress
- Ethel Turner
Australian novelist
- Ethel Mary Smyth
English composer and feminist
- Ethel Skakel Kennedy
widow of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy
- Ethel Waters
American jazz singer and actress
- Ethel Elizabeth Gee
English spy
- Ethel Greenglass Rosenberg
American spy
- Ethel Lilian Voynich
Irish novelist
- Ethel Shannon
American silent film actress
- Ethel Kremer Schwabacher
American painter
- Ethel L. Payne
American journalist
- Ethel Hays
American cartoonist
- Ethel Hannah Catherwood
Canadian Olympic athlete
- Ethel Azama
American jazz singer
- Ethel Ayler
American actress
- Ethel Percy Andrus
American educator and founder of AARP
- Ethel Mary Cooper (b. 2011)
daughter of singer Lily Allen
- Ethel Cain
Stage name of American singer Hayden Ähnedonia
Ethel in pop culture
- Ethel Anderson
character on TV's "Brickleberry"
- Ethel Parks
character on TV's "Downton Abbey"
- Ethel Mertz
character on TV's "I Love Lucy"
- Ethel May Skinner
character on British soap "EastEnders"
- Ethel Hallow
character in "The Worst Witch" series
- Big Ethel
character in Archie Comics
- Ethel Darling
character in "American Horror Story: Freak Show"
- Ethel Thayer
character in Ernest Thompson's "On Golden Pond"
- Ethel Eldon
character in Mildred Keith series
- Short for Ethelinda
Ethelberta, Ethelgoda, Etheldred, Ethelwynn, etc.
- Ethel Hardy
character in G. A. Henty's "Out on the Pampas"
- Ethel Toffelmeyer
character in "The Music Man"
- Ethel Grackle
character in "Strange Hill High"