Effie
A feminine diminutive form of Euphemia, of Greek origin meaning "well-spoken".
Name Census estimates that about 5,793 living Americans carry the first name Effie. It is a predominantly female name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Effie today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Effie births was 1919 (938 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Effie. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Effie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Effie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 241 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
5.8K
~ 1 in 59,167 Americans
Peak year
1919
938 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1973 SSA rank
#2,507
Tracked since 1880
Census
Effie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,614 people with the first name Effie, which placed it at #3,240 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,240
National first-name rank
People counted
6.6K
6,614 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Effie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Effie is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Black (26.6%) and Hispanic (3.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Effie described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Effie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.9% · 4,160
- Black or African American26.6% · 1,758
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 197
- Two or more races2.9% · 193
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 191
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 115
Gender
Gender distribution for Effie
Out of the 44,412 babies given the name Effie since 1880, 99.5% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Effie as a male name
- Ranked #4,208 in 1973
- 7 male births in 1973
- Peak: 1900 (13 births)
Effie as a female name
- Ranked #2,507 in 2024
- 71 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1919 (929 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Effie appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,614 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Effie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Effie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 7,744 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Effie by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Effie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Effies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. North Carolina, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Effie, while Connecticut, Arizona, Oregon recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 495 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Effie
The name Effie is a diminutive form of the Greek name Euphemia, which means "well-spoken" or "praise." It has its roots in the ancient Greek language and culture, dating back to the Byzantine era. The name Euphemia was derived from the Greek words "eu" meaning "well" and "pheme" meaning "speech" or "utterance."
Effie gained popularity as a given name during the Victorian era in the 19th century, particularly in English-speaking countries. It was often used as a nickname or diminutive form of longer names like Euphemia or Ephemia. The name had a certain charm and whimsical quality that appealed to the sensibilities of the time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Effie can be found in the novel "The Mill on the Floss" by George Eliot, published in 1860. In the book, Effie is the nickname of the character Euphemia Turbet.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Effie. One of the earliest was Effie Gray (1828-1897), a Scottish artist who was married to the famous art critic John Ruskin. Their turbulent marriage and eventual annulment due to non-consummation became a subject of public scandal in Victorian England.
Another prominent Effie was Effie Millais (1837-1898), the wife of the English painter John Everett Millais. She was a model and muse for her husband's works, including the iconic painting "Ophelia."
In the realm of literature, Effie Belle Caldwell (1864-1933) was an American writer and suffragette who published several novels and plays under the pen name of Effie W. Merriman.
The name also found its way into the world of entertainment. Effie Marie Fateaux (1905-1988), better known as Effie Fateaux, was an American vaudeville performer and actress who appeared in several films during the 1920s and 1930s.
Lastly, Effie Marquita Millais (1884-1964) was an English artist and writer, known for her memoir "The Life and Letters of John Everett Millais," which provided insights into the life of her father, the renowned Pre-Raphaelite painter.
People
Effie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Effie as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Effie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Effie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,793 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Effie going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 59,167 US residents.
Is Effie a common name?
We classify Effie as "Rare". It ranks above 96.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 44,412 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Effie most popular?
The single biggest year for Effie was 1919, when 938 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Effie is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Effie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,614 people with the name Effie, or 2.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,240 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Effie in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Effie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Effie appears almost entirely female. Of the 6,614 people counted with this name, 99.2% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Effie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Effie is White at 62.9%. The next largest groups are Black (26.6%) and Hispanic (3.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Effie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Effie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.9% (4,160 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Effie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Effie a female name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Effie in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Effie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Effie in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Effie can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Effie?
Find out how many people share the name Effie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.