Eben
Masculine · “stone of help”
Eben is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,608 boys against 6 girls since 1880.
Eben is a short form of Ebenezer, which is not a person's name in the Bible at all — it is a stone that Samuel sets up and calls the stone of help.
How old is the name Eben?
Eben was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Eben alive today was born around 1993, making them about 32 years old. About 2,800 people named Eben are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Eben most popular?
Eben peaked in 1888, reaching #528 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 3,320 places below that high. See the whole 1888 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From even ezer to Eben
The story of Eben
Puritan naming took words and phrases from scripture with great freedom, and Ebenezer — a place and a stone — became a men's name in seventeenth-century England and colonial New England, where it was very common. Dickens gave it to a miser in 1843, which did the name considerable damage. Eben survived as the short form and appears in American records in real numbers through the nineteenth century.
Meaning
stone of help
From Hebrew even, a stone, and ezer, help; in the first book of Samuel it names a monument raised after a victory, with the words hitherto the Lord has helped us. It became a personal name only among English Puritans.
How the name formed
- even ezer
- Ebenezer
- Eben
Related forms: Even Ezer · Ebenezer
Pronouncing Eben
EE-ben
Two syllables, first stressed. Some families say EB-en.
Nicknames for Eben
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 2012100 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #528reached in 1888
- Change vs 2022
- −24.3%28 in 2025, from 37
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.
Eben in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Even Ezer in Hebrew — related form
- Ebenezer in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Maine, Ohio.
Ebens among us
people named Eben are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Eben
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Eben sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Eben is headed
Eben should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Eben beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Eben in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely good image — a stone set up to mark help received.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Substantial nineteenth-century American use under its own name.
- Ebenezer stands behind it and carries a strong literary association.
- The first vowel is unsettled between EE and EB.
- It is close to Evan and Ethan in an American ear.
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What they receive
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Eben
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ebens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Eben are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Eben in 2025?
- Eben ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Eben?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Eben — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Eben with classmates?
- Eben will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Eben
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Stafford#3848 · Dewey#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Eben? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Eben and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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