Ennis
Derived from the Irish surname meaning "from the ridge" or "ridge island".
Name Census estimates that about 1,506 living Americans carry the first name Ennis. It is a predominantly male name (90.9% of registrations). The average person named Ennis today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ennis births was 1918 (70 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ennis. 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 Ennis with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.5K
~ 1 in 227,593 Americans
Peak year
1918
70 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,970
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ennis in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,367 people with the first name Ennis, which placed it at #9,937 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
#9,937
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,367 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ennis
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ennis is Black at 48.2%. The next largest groups are White (39.1%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Ennis 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 Ennis at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American48.2% · 659
- White39.1% · 535
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 94
- Two or more races3.6% · 49
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Ennis
Ennis leans heavily male at 90.9% of total registrations, but 320 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ennis as a male name
- Ranked #5,970 in 2024
- 15 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (62 births)
Ennis as a female name
- Ranked #6,900 in 1963
- 5 female births in 1963
- Peak: 1916 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ennis leans strongly male. 1,204 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 156 female bearers (11.5%).
Popularity
Ennis: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ennis from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 553 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ennis 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 Ennis during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ennis' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Ennis, while Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 70 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ennis
The name Ennis is of Irish origin and is derived from the Gaelic word "innsi," meaning "island" or "river meadow." It is believed to have originated in the medieval period, around the 9th or 10th century AD, when Ireland was divided into various kingdoms and chieftainries.
Ennis was a popular name among the ancient Irish, particularly in the regions of Munster and Connacht. The name was often given to children born near islands or riverside meadows, reflecting the geographical significance of the name's meaning. In Irish mythology, there are references to characters bearing similar names, such as Innis, which further suggests the name's ancient roots.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Ennis can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a chronicle of medieval Irish history compiled in the 17th century. It mentions an Ennis Ó Conchobhair, who was a prominent figure in the 12th century and a member of the powerful Ó Conchobhair dynasty that ruled Connacht.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Ennis. One of the most famous was Ennis Friary, also known as Ennis Abbey, founded in the late 12th century by the O'Brien family in County Clare, Ireland. This Franciscan friary played a significant role in the religious and cultural life of the region for centuries.
Another notable figure was Ennis Tynane (c. 1608-1654), an Irish soldier and captain in the Confederate Catholic forces during the Irish Confederate Wars of the 1640s. He fought against the English Parliamentarian forces and is remembered for his bravery and military prowess.
In the 19th century, Ennis McMillan (1844-1922) was an Irish-American businessman and politician who served as the 22nd Governor of Tennessee from 1899 to 1903. He was influential in promoting economic development and infrastructure projects in the state.
More recently, Ennis Whatley (1924-2005) was an American college basketball coach who led several successful programs, including the University of Alabama and the University of South Alabama. He was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
Ennis Esmer (born 1978) is a Canadian actor and writer, best known for his roles in popular television series such as "The Listener," "Blindspot," and "You Me Her." He has received critical acclaim for his performances and has become a recognizable figure in the entertainment industry.
People
Ennis + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ennis 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
Ennis: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ennis?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,506 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ennis 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 227,593 US residents.
Is Ennis a common name?
We classify Ennis as "Rare". It ranks above 92.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,516 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ennis most popular?
The single biggest year for Ennis was 1918, when 70 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ennis is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ennis in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,367 people with the name Ennis, or 0.45 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,937 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 Ennis 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 Ennis?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ennis leans strongly male. 1,204 people counted with this name were male (88.5%), compared with 156 female bearers (11.5%). 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 Ennis?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ennis is Black at 48.2%. The next largest groups are White (39.1%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Ennis most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Ennis in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (659 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 Ennis in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ennis a male name?
Yes, 90.9% of people registered as Ennis in the SSA data are male. 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 Ennis still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ennis 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 Ennis 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 share the name Ennis?
Want to know how many Americans are named Ennis? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.