Ebony

Girl name

Ebony has been given to 39,453 babies in the U.S. since 1950. It peaked in 1982.

Meaning & origin

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

Origin: English

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Hover or tap the chart to read any year.

Total babies

39,453

Peak year

1982 (2,315 babies)

Rank in 2025

Below top 1000

First recorded

1950

10-year trend

▼ -59%

Gender split

99% girls / 1% boys

Venus Williams

American tennis player (born 1980)

Notability data from Wikidata (CC0).

Same primary gender, peaked around the same years, and roughly as common as Ebony.

39,781 babies since 1966

39,098 babies since 1882

40,238 babies since 1956

40,355 babies since 1934

40,620 babies since 1881

41,241 babies since 1880

37,187 babies since 1911

42,603 babies since 1880

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