Recorded 1880–2014 · United States
Ethelyn was most popular in 1920, when 168 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,009 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 4,450 people named Ethelyn.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Ethelyn is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 94 of the 146 years since. It was last recorded in 2014.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 4,450 American births named Ethelyn between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 681 are estimated to be alive today.
Ethelyn was not recorded in 2025. The SSA withholds any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so fewer than five American babies were given it.
Ethelyn is out of use. It averaged 5 births a year a decade ago and has not been recorded in the last five years.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Ethelyn is a girl’s name — 100.0% of the 4,450 Americans given it were girls and 0.0% were boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 681 Americans named Ethelyn are alive today — 15% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 79 years old, and half are between 71 and 87.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Ethelyn on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org