Edgar
Masculine · “rich spear”
Edgar is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 157,214 boys against 705 girls since 1880. See Edgar as a girl name
Edgar is an Old English name that survived the Norman Conquest, went out of use, came back with the Victorians, and is now sustained in America largely by Spanish-speaking families. Its most consequential bearer is a king almost nobody has heard of whose coronation is still being copied.
How old is the name Edgar?
Edgar was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Edgar alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 95,500 people named Edgar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Edgar most popular?
Edgar peaked in 1881, reaching #50 nationally. Today it ranks #486, 436 places below that high. See the whole 1881 chart.
Where it comes from
From Eadgar to Edgar
The story of Edgar
Edgar the Peaceable was crowned late — he had been king for fourteen years before the ceremony — and the service that was written for him, apparently by Dunstan, is the reason English coronations look the way they do. The order of it is essentially unchanged: the recognition, the oath, the anointing with oil under a canopy, the delivery of the regalia, the crowning, the enthroning, the homage. Handel's anthem written for a later coronation sets the same text Dunstan chose. Almost every English and British coronation since, including the most recent, has followed that shape, which makes it one of the oldest continuously used ceremonies in Europe. The other thing everyone reports about that day is what followed: a symbolic submission on the river at Chester, where other rulers of Britain are said to have rowed his boat.
Meaning
rich spear; prosperity-spear
Two Old English elements: a word meaning wealth or good fortune, and the word for a spear. Spear names were the largest family in old Germanic naming, because a spear was the one weapon every free man owned, and the compounds were compliments rather than descriptions.
How the name formed
- Eadgar
- Edgar
Related forms: Edgar · Edgard · Edgar · Edgar
Pronouncing Edgar
ED-gar
Two syllables with the stress at the front in English. Spanish speakers say ed-GAR with the weight at the back, and both are heard in American families — often within the same one.
Nicknames for Edgar
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
- 20072,420 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #50reached in 1881
- Change vs 2022
- −20.4%617 in 2025, from 775
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.
Edgar in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Edgar in Spanish — same name
- Edgard in French — same name
- Edgar in Portuguese — same name
- Edgar in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Arizona.
Edgars among us
people named Edgar are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,768 born in 2025 was named Edgar
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
Edgar 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 Edgar is headed
Edgar should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Edgar beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Edgar in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is spelled identically in English, Spanish, French and German.
- Ed and Eddie are both ready-made and need no explanation anywhere.
- The meaning is documented all the way back and has not shifted.
- English and Spanish stress it differently, so a bilingual family hears two versions of one name.
- The horror writer is a permanent association for English-speaking readers.
- It was recorded for daughters too in earlier decades, though very rarely.
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What they receive
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Edgar
Masculine · #486 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Edgars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 95,500 people named Edgar are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Edgar in 2025?
- Edgar ranks #486 among US boy names in 2025, with 617 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Edgar?
- About 1 in every 2,768 US boys born in 2025 was named Edgar — 617 in all.
- Will my child share the name Edgar with classmates?
- Edgar will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Edgar
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rowen#486 · Nasir#486 · Hezekiah#485 · Kasen#483 · Sean#489 · Asa#483 · Adan#482 · Arjun#490
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Edgar? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Edgar and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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