Ezra
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "helper" or "aid".
Roughly 97,641 people in the United States go by the first name Ezra, which ranks #13 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. It is a predominantly male name (95.5% of registrations). The average person named Ezra today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ezra births was 2024 (9,172 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Tanner (97,628).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ezra. 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 Ezra with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ezra is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 4,676 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Ezra is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
98K
~ 1 in 3,510 Americans
Peak year
2024
9,172 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ezra in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 52,905 people with the first name Ezra, which placed it at #860 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
#860
National first-name rank
People counted
53K
52,905 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
17.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ezra
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ezra is White at 53.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.0%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Ezra 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 Ezra at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.2% · 28,132
- Hispanic or Latino25.0% · 13,228
- Black or African American9.7% · 5,129
- Two or more races8.1% · 4,291
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 1,729
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 396
Gender
Gender distribution for Ezra
Ezra leans heavily male at 95.5% of total registrations, but 4,676 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Ezra as a male name
- Ranked #13 in 2024
- 8,774 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (8,774 births)
Ezra as a female name
- Ranked #705 in 2024
- 398 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (457 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ezra leans strongly male. 50,305 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 2,601 female bearers (4.9%).
Popularity
Ezra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ezra from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 41,545 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ezra 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 Ezra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ezras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Ezra, while Wyoming, Delaware, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,883 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ezra
The name Ezra is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin. It is derived from the Hebrew word 'ezer', which means 'help' or 'helper'. The earliest known bearer of this name was Ezra, a Hebrew priest and scribe who played a crucial role in the rebuilding of Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile in the 5th century BC.
In the Bible, Ezra is regarded as one of the most important figures in Jewish history. He is credited with leading a group of Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem from Babylon and restoring the observance of the Torah, the Jewish law. The Book of Ezra, part of the Hebrew Bible, recounts his efforts in reestablishing the Temple and the religious life of the community.
The name Ezra gained prominence in the Jewish community due to its association with this biblical figure. It has been used by Jews throughout history, often as a way to honor the memory of the great scribe and leader. One notable bearer of the name was Ezra Pound, an American poet and critic who lived from 1885 to 1972 and was a major figure in the Modernist movement.
Another famous Ezra was Ezra Cornell, the American businessman and philanthropist who founded Cornell University in 1865. He lived from 1807 to 1874 and was instrumental in the establishment of the university's land-grant system, which helped make higher education more accessible.
In the realm of literature, Ezra Weston Loomis Pound, better known as Ezra Pound, was a influential American poet, critic, and intellectual who lived from 1885 to 1972. He played a pivotal role in shaping the Modernist movement and was a significant figure in the Imagist and Vorticist literary groups.
Ezra Taft Benson, who lived from 1899 to 1994, was an American religious leader and politician. He served as the 13th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1985 to 1994 and was also the United States Secretary of Agriculture under President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Ezra Stiles, born in 1727 and died in 1795, was an American academic and educator. He served as the president of Yale College (now Yale University) from 1778 until his death, and was instrumental in shaping the institution's academic curriculum and promoting the study of Hebrew and other Semitic languages.
People
Ezra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ezra 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
Ezra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ezra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 97,641 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ezra 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 3,510 US residents.
Is Ezra a common name?
We classify Ezra as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 103,220 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ezra most popular?
The single biggest year for Ezra was 2024, when 9,172 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ezra is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ezra in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 52,905 people with the name Ezra, or 17.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #860 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 Ezra 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 Ezra?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ezra leans strongly male. 50,305 people counted with this name were male (95.1%), compared with 2,601 female bearers (4.9%). 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 Ezra?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ezra is White at 53.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.0%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Ezra most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ezra in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.2% (28,132 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 Ezra in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ezra a male name?
Yes, 95.5% of people registered as Ezra 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 Ezra still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ezra 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 Ezra 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 common is the name Ezra?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.