Earl
Feminine · “a nobleman”
Earl is given to boys far more often — 289,174 boys against 2,247 girls since 1880. See Earl as a boy name
Earl is the only English noble rank whose wife has a French title. A duke has a duchess, a baron a baroness, a marquess a marchioness — all of them pairs. An earl has a countess, and the mismatch is a fossil: the English kept their own word for the man and had to borrow the Normans' for the woman.
How old is the name Earl?
Earl first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Earl alive today was born around 1931, making them about 94 years old. About 700 people named Earl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Earl most popular?
Earl peaked in 1892, reaching #796 nationally. See the whole 1892 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From eorl to Earl
The story of Earl
The reason for the missing word is straightforward once seen. Old English had eorl for the man and no established form for his wife, because the title did not work that way; the Normans arrived with count and countess as a matched pair, tried to replace eorl with count, and failed. The man's title stayed English. The woman's had nowhere to go and stayed French. Nine hundred years later the pairing is still lopsided, and it is the clearest surviving evidence in the peerage of a conquest that changed some things and could not change others. Every other rank in the list is French from top to bottom. This one is half of each, and the seam is visible.
Meaning
a nobleman
Old English eorl, originally a man of rank generally and later the specific title. It is one of very few English words for a social position that survived the Conquest intact, and it survived because there was no need to replace it.
How the name formed
- eorl
- Earl
Pronouncing Earl
URL
One syllable. It is said identically to the first two syllables of the word for the opposite of late, though the two words are entirely unrelated and always have been.
Nicknames for Earl
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1881
- Most girls named
- 192966 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #796reached in 1892
- Change vs 1986
- −28.6%5 in 1988, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Earls among us
people named Earl are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Earl sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable, no ambiguity, and nothing about it ever needs repeating.
- It is a real English word with a clear and dignified sense.
- It has held a place in American use for the whole length of the record.
- Its peak generation is now very old and the name carries that age plainly.
- It looks like a pair with the word early, and the two are not related at all.
- The record holds girls as well, and the girl is much the smaller side.
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What they receive
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Earl
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Earls are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Earl are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Earl in 2025?
- Earl is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Earl with classmates?
- Earl will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More E names
The most-given names starting with E, all years combined.
Elizabeth#17 · Emily#34 · Emma#3 · Evelyn#8 · Ella#29 · Eleanor#12 · Erin#833 · Edna#2458
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Earl? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Earl and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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