# Ebony (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/ebony/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 39,453 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 455 / 38,998 (99% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 7,162, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From ebony. First used by African Americans in the 1970s.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 98 | 2,002 |
| 2012 | 94 | 2,048 |
| 2013 | 105 | 1,910 |
| 2014 | 71 | 2,520 |
| 2015 | 56 | 3,039 |
| 2016 | 70 | 2,546 |
| 2017 | 47 | 3,355 |
| 2018 | 45 | 3,449 |
| 2019 | 37 | 3,946 |
| 2020 | 29 | 4,575 |
| 2021 | 33 | 4,270 |
| 2022 | 28 | 4,829 |
| 2023 | 19 | 6,235 |
| 2024 | 23 | 5,495 |
| 2025 | 23 | 5,452 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | 17 | 2,863 |
| 1986 | 13 | 3,502 |
| 1987 | 13 | 3,590 |
| 1988 | 13 | 3,758 |
| 1989 | 33 | 2,116 |
| 1990 | 21 | 2,991 |
| 1991 | 8 | 6,116 |
| 1992 | 9 | 5,778 |
| 1995 | 7 | 7,229 |
| 1996 | 6 | 8,247 |
| 1998 | 5 | 10,085 |
| 1999 | 5 | 10,383 |
| 2000 | 6 | 9,446 |
| 2004 | 5 | 11,871 |
| 2008 | 5 | 13,087 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 284 | 179 |
| 2012 | 237 | 211 |
| 2013 | 233 | 220 |
| 2014 | 187 | 260 |
| 2015 | 163 | 294 |
| 2016 | 145 | 338 |
| 2017 | 133 | 354 |
| 2018 | 107 | 413 |
| 2019 | 116 | 377 |
| 2020 | 80 | 505 |
| 2021 | 76 | 536 |
| 2022 | 69 | 562 |
| 2023 | 63 | 600 |
| 2024 | 40 | 902 |
| 2025 | 40 | 872 |

## People named Ebony

- Ebony Bones, British singer
- Ebony Ayes, American pornographic actress
- Ebony Obsidian, American actress
- Ebony Hoffman, American basketball player (born 1982)
- Ebony Salmon, English association football player
- Venus Williams, American tennis player (born 1980)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.