Ephraim
Top 1000
About Ephraim
Ephraim is an Old Testament name we would place high on the list of neglected Biblical possibilities, solid but not solemn.
In Genesis, Ephraim is the second son of Joseph, and founder of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The name also appears as characters in Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield, Charles Dickens's novel Little Dorrit, and in works by Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. More recently, Ephraim Black was a character in the Twilight saga, a shape-shifter who was the great-grandfather of Jacob.
Father and son violinist and actor Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. and Sr, simplified the spelling.
Pronounced EF-rum; EF-ray-im.
As of October 2026, Ephraim ranked #988 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #407 in 1880, Nameberry popularity #691.
Editor: Sophie Kihm
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #928 | 229 | 119.2 |
| 2015 | #925 | 231 | 120.5 |
| 2016 | #871 | 254 | 133.8 |
| 2017 | #848 | 260 | 140.5 |
| 2018 | #938 | 223 | 122.8 |
| 2019 | #970 | 221 | 123.2 |
| 2020 | #1,004 | 210 | 121.7 |
| 2021 | #976 | 228 | 130.3 |
| 2022 | #1,084 | 201 | 115.1 |
| 2023 | #986 | 223 | 130.4 |
| 2024 | #979 | 229 | 132.9 |
| 2025 | #988 | 231 | 135.2 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Ephraim.
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Ephraim on lists
Famous Ephraims
- Ephraim
second son of Joseph and Asenath in the Bible
- Ephraim Katzir
4th President of Israeli
- Ephraim Chambers
British encyclopedist
- Ephraim Knight Smart
U.S. Congressman from Maine
- Ephraim Curtis
American colonel military figure
- Ephraim Kishon
Israeli film director
- Ephraim McDowell
American surgeon who pioneered abdominal surgery
- Ephraim Mirvis
South African rabbi
- Ephraim Webster
American pioneer in New York
- Ephraim Francis Baldwin
American architect
Ephraim in pop culture
- Ephraim Cabot
character in play Desire Under the Elms by Eugene O'Neill
- Ephraim Lapham
character in Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes
- Ephraim Tutt
character in the novels of Arthur Train
- Ephraim Longstocking
father of Pippi Longstocking in the books by Astrid Lindgren
- Ephraim Pontipee
character in the 1954 film 'Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'
- Ephraim Charisi
father of Daniel Deronda in George Eliot's "Daniel Deronda,' (1876)
- Ephraim MacVittie
partner in MacVittie & Co. in 'Rob Roy' (1818) by Sir Walter Scott
- Ephraim Goodweather
character from "The Strain"
- Ephraim Black
Great,grandfather of Jacob Black in the Twilight Saga
- Ephraim
Prince of Renais in video game Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
- Ephraim Brown
character on TV's Everwood
- Ephraim Wanker
Peggy's father on TV's 'Married with Children'
- Ephraim Atticus Aldridge
character on TV's 'Downton Abbey'