Ethan
Top 1000
About Ethan
Ethan is a name that succeeds in being at once classic and fashionable, serious and cheery, strong and sensitive. Given a big boost via the name of the Tom Cruise character in the Mission Impossible film series, Ethan has fallen from its peak at Number 2 in 2009 and 2010, but is still popular in the US along with several other countries.
There are several Ethans in the Old Testament, the most prominent of whom, Ethan the Ezrahite, is praised for his wisdom.
Ethan's prime historic namesake in the US is Ethan Allen, Revolutionary War hero; in literature the name is associated with the eponymous Ethan Frome of Edith Wharton's novel. A more current namesake is actor Ethan Hawke.
Along with the English-speaking countries, Ethan is popular in France and other French-speaking European countries and in Latin America.
While Americans and Brits pronounce the name EE-thun, most other languages follow the pronunciation of its native Hebrew: AY-tahn. International variations include Etan, Izan, and Eitan, from which the name derives.
As of October 2026, Ethan ranked #24 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #2 in 2009, Nameberry popularity #72.
Editor's take: The name Ethan is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "strong, firm".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #6 | 15,748 | 8,198.4 |
| 2015 | #6 | 15,099 | 7,877.4 |
| 2016 | #10 | 13,854 | 7,300.3 |
| 2017 | #14 | 12,478 | 6,741.4 |
| 2018 | #12 | 11,930 | 6,568.8 |
| 2019 | #11 | 11,307 | 6,301.9 |
| 2020 | #13 | 9,551 | 5,533.4 |
| 2021 | #20 | 8,858 | 5,063.2 |
| 2022 | #21 | 8,308 | 4,758.3 |
| 2023 | #25 | 7,802 | 4,561 |
| 2024 | #19 | 8,170 | 4,742 |
| 2025 | #24 | 7,852 | 4,597 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Ethan.
- Caleb
- Lucas
- Luke
- Nathan
- Jacob
- Elijah
- Zachary
- Isaac
- Isaiah
- Eli
- Evan
- Connor
- Dylan
- Aaron
- Ian
- Noah
- Aiden
- Liam
- Logan
- Gabriel
Ethan on lists
Famous Ethans
- Ethan
grandson of Judah (1 Chr. 2:6)
- Ethan
son of Kushaiah (1 Chr. 15:17)
- Ethan the Ezrahite
Biblical psalmist (Ps. 89)
- Ethan Allen
American Revolutionary War hero
- Ethan Jesse Coen
American film director and screenwriter
- Ethan Skip Erickson
American actor
- Ethan Green Hawke
American actor
- Ethan Gregory Peck
American actor; grandson of actor Gregory Peck
- Ethan Zohn
American soccer player
- Ethan Josh Lee
American actor
- Ethan Anthony Couch
American so,called "affluenza teen"
- Ethan Edward Minogue Smith
son of singer Dannii Minogue
- Ethan Joshua Maher
brother of singer/actress Kaitlyn Maher
- Ethan Davison (b. 1996)
son of actors Bruce Davison and Lisa Pelikan
- Ethan Ford
son of chef Benjamin Ford; grandson of actor Harrison Ford
- Ethan Anka
son of singer Paul Anka
- Ethan Page Furlong (b. 2006)
son of American actor and musician Edward Furlong
- Ethan Suplee
American actor
- Ethan Grant Dolan
social media influencer
- Ethan (b. 2016)
son of American actor and singer,songwriter Cheyenne Jackson
- Ethan Carter III (b. 1983)
American wrestler
- Ethan Klein
Youtuber on H3H3 productions; runs H3 Podcast
Ethan in pop culture
- Ethan Isaac Gordimer
main male character in Scarlett Avery’s book “Delectably British”.
- "Ethan Frome
" novel by Edith Wharton
- Ethan Hunt
main character in the "Mission: Impossible" series
- Ethan Rom
character on TV's "Lost"
- Ethan Chandler (Talbot)
character on TV's "Penny Dreadful"
- Ethan Karamakov
character on TV's "Dance Academy"
- Ethan Wate
character in the "Beautiful Creatures" series
- Ethan Kavanagh
character in the "Fifty Shades of Grey" series
- Ethan Nakamura
character in the "Percy Jackson" series
- Ethan Morgan
character in film "My Babysitter's a Vampire"
- Ethan
character in "The Here and Now" by Ann Brashares
- Ethan
character in "The Adoration of Jenna Fox" by Mary E. Pearson
- Ethan
wolf on TV's "Teen Wolf"
- Ethan Moore
character in the "Vampire Academy" series by Richelle Mead
- Ethan Diaz
character on TV's "Stuck in the Middle"
- Ethan Edwards
character in "The Searchers"
- Ethan
protagonist in Pokemon Heart Gold & Soul Silver video games
- Ethan Winters
protagonist in the video game "Resident Evil 7"
- Ethan Miller
character in the 2015 film "The Night Before"
- Ethan Weston
character on TV's "thirtysomething"
- Ethan
a vampire in the French online visual novel Moonlight Lovers
Variations & nicknames
- AitanHebrew
- EitanHebrew
- EtanHebrew